Socket spanner set choose help needed

[SC9]

Heya,

I want to buy a socket spanner set for minor car fixes and I was wondering if you can help me with a quick advice. I am not looking for something fancy and expensive, since I have no idea if I will ever use it or what for.

What should I choose between this
£20 72 pieces set from B&Q
https://www.diy.com/departments/72-piece-standard-socket-set/1785068_BQ.prd

and this £35 74 pieces from Lidl
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/fMW543yLIyJHdJr9Hbnw8-7OzilIo0plXArJftAuUXeROEi4XG1qzHrchTGJWOMwKT0iJBBoV3Sv5MmeLHSCeO9GGuSCkvLfID9X4OHKPN2LWcL_cCB_R5e4HibjQ1t7JhLO93E

Should I go for the lowest price or Power Fix would be a little bit better than the other unknown one?

Thank you

[Riejufixing]

[WD Forte]

The £20 B&Q set looks fine for a starter set.
I see it has 6 sided sockets which is all I use nowdays
as they are less prone to round off rusty old nuts and bolt heads

There will only be a few that you'll need to use regularly
say 8,10,12,14,17,19mm mainly
maybe other sizes at times.


£20 isnt a lot of dosh and you'll probably add and upgrade tools later on
as we all do

I'm still using a set of hex sockets I bought from B&Q years ago
and they've served me well, but keep the receipt just in case.
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[Bhud]

I've got a few B&Q ones, and they do at least 3 levels of quality in sockets, so you can't tell much from that link. All I can say is, the ones I bought individually from off the shelf at B&Q are a lot beefier than the ones shown in that boxed set.

The way I would do it is, forget these sets. Spend about £20-£30 on a set of branded metric 1/4-inch sockets where the only other thing in the packet is a wall-mounting rack. Then get a ratchet separately, perhaps an extender separately, and a couple of socket size adaptors to give you a bit of flexibility in the future. At some point you may need thinner walled sockets, or you might break one from using it as a bearing drift or something. But if you do it this way around and try to go for quality sockets rather than a one-size-fits-all toolkit with lots of unneeded items, you're more likely to end up with a decent sockets that will last a lifetime. £20-£30 is OK for a reasonable home DIYer set of sockets, I think. But, personally, I would doubt you would get good sockets among 72/74 trinkets in a box, for that money.

[Riejufixing]

[Bhud]

D'oh!

I wrote 1/4-inch but meant 1/2-inch

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[pepperami]

Another vote for 6 sided sockets.
I picked up a handful at car-boot sales, not expensive .

Now I buy them in ones & twos when I can,
I find then better than the multi sided sockets.
____________________
I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[Kentol750]

Halfords have been good to me for over 20 years, look for sales and then online discount too, got an extra 15% off by ordering online and waiting 4 days.
____________________
Some bikes.

[Nobby the Bastard]

I bought a set of 6 sided impact 1/2 drive sockets for £45 quid in the summer. I'm expecting them to last my lifetime (unless I lend them to ste after he managed tto snap my 8mm hex tang bit....). Lifetime guarentee

https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/tool-kits/halfords-advanced-modular-tray-set---18pc-impact-socket-set-439227.html

I also bought a cheap set of sockets from halfords (1/4 and 3/8) about 18 years ago. I still have them all including the 3/8 to 1/4 adaptor. Im on about my 6th 3/8 wrench (I always have 3) simply because they've worn out from use and the rachet bit had died. The last one I bought was an expemsive one rather than the cheap ones that I've picked up prior to that.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Triumph Sprint ST 1050

[ThunderGuts]

Another vote for 6 sided sockets. Although I've graduated to more substantial tools these days, when I started out messing around on cars as a teenager I managed to get apart a surprising amount of stuff with a cheap 1/4" drive set (which came with a 1/4"-3/8" adaptor so I could use bigger sockets!) and it never broke, even when I used a bar on the end to loosen a particularly tight sump plug. It's amazing what you can get away with (sometimes!). I actually still have it and it lives in my beer festival toolkit.

As a general note though; I'd say that if the OP envisages any kind of repeat use (remember that socket sets can find a use on all sorts of things like lawnmowers, garden furniture, gates, garage doors, loft ladders etc.), it's worth getting something semi-decent. I use this, hardly expensive, but it works very well and seems decent enough for casual use;

https://www.toolstation.com/draper-12-inch-socket-set/p54253
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TG.

[Hetzer]

What a perfect opportunity to pass comment on the continuing cheapening and shoddification of all things but in this case, automative tools. Has anyone been to halfrauds lately? Specifically the gloriously sophisticated-looking brushed metal and shiny tempered glass cabinets in which used to reside actual high-quality sockets and ratchets? "Professional" they called them. You could tell they were the real McCoy because the insides of the sockets had splines like the teeth in a shark's mouth. Thousands of them! Such that if you needed to adjust the position of the socket on a nut you had to do nothing but merely THINK and you got a fraction of an inch of new angle on the fucker you were trying to loosen. Now? Six sides. If you need to adjust the position you need a telegraph and a fucking tug-boat.

I don't understand why. Is it so much more expensive to cast a piece with multiple splines? Now the so-called "professional" range looks like the standard shite you get from the chinese aisle at Toys R Us.
____________________
"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Jewlio Rides Again LLB]

[Polarbear]

Yes, they do more than one range. Our local one certainly still sells professional along side cheapish tat.

Also, I don 't have a problem with 12 sided sockets. Yes, 6 sided are useful when the nut has rusted to hell but I reckon most problems with 12 sided are people using a 'close' size rather than the proper one or that cheap sets have crap tolerances. I have an ancient Halfords professional 12 sided set that is still good.

I do have a six sided 3/4" drive set and impact sockets if I need smaller sizes and brute force is the order of the day.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[WD Forte]

How come all impact sockets are 6 sided?
I dont recall ever seeing a 12 spline impact socket and
since I only use 6 sided sockets now I haven't struggled with a rounded off a worn or rusty nut
or bolt head for a long time.
Once the socket is on the nut/bolt, the adjustment angle depends on the amount of teeth
and quality of the rachet not the socket.
Offering up a hex socket to a nut means you may have to turn it a max of 60 degrees as opposed to 30 degrees
on a 12 but this is hardly a chore and has never had me wanting a 12.

Spanners now that's different.
Trying to shift nuts/bolts in a restricted space with hex type spanners could be an arseache
so good quality 12 spline spanners win here.

OP mentions car work.
Many cars now use hex cap head bolts, M&F Torx type bolts n shit so sets of these are
often needed as well as sockets to do a lot of work.
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[ThunderGuts]

[Freddyfruitba...]

My Halfords set must be about vintage 1978, and is still in great condition, which is more than can be said for the plastic moulded insert which all the sockets and tools fitted into - the plastic degraded years ago so everything just rattles around in the metal case. I can't come up with any realistic way to solve it, but it annoys me so much that I'm almost tempted to bin it and buy a whole new socket set...
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KC100->CB100N->CB250RS--------->DL650AL2->R1200RS->R1250RS

[BTTD]

Worth taking a look at machine mart if you want to build a tool set out out of small kits, but you'll end up spending more.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/c/hand-tools/

I have a set of powefix spanners and allen keys in the house toolkit which appear to be decent enough. They don't have the finish of Draper or Halfords professional range tools, but I've given them some abuse and they aren't made of cheese. I would buy again.

[Polarbear]

[NJD]

[Hetzer]

[yen_powell]

[Freddyfruitba...]

[yen_powell]

[steve the grease]

Please please look at 3/8 and 1/4 drive sets. 1/2"drive is miles too big and clumsy and over the top for bikes for anything less than 17 or19mm. I use my 1/4 drive set on anything 6-13 and the 3/8 set for 8-17mm over 17 I use my 1/2" drive set. Have you ever used/ seen an 8mm 1/2" drive socket , ridiculous overkill with too large a head to go on lots of fittings.
Oh and 6 point please. 12 point sockets are cheaper to make* and were neccessary before ratchets became common ( like in the war) , but 6 point sockets fit the nuts so much better.

Just noticed this is for CAR work not bikes , so only partially applies. Some smaller fittings on cars can be very tight, so 1/2" for over 14mm maybe.


* Because less material is deformed to forge the socket fron the blank
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All the above is my personal opinion, you can see my lips move, but I'm talking out of my arse.
I've been riding, and fixing , bikes for 50 years, in that time the more I learn, the less I am absolutely sure of.....