Who makes the highest quality sockets?

Hi Everyone,

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Apologies if this topic has been covered, I didn't find anything helpful searching.  I busted two 13mm sockets on a brake job last weekend.  I probably bought these sockets 20 years ago at Sears (Craftsman). 

Who sells quality sockets, rachets, etc now? I went to SnapOn online and it was the Shipping ($20) for two 13mm sockets that caused me to not press the Pay button. 

Thanks,

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Paul (who used to drive a beautiful Championship White ITR, and now drives a Championship White Town and Country minivan). 

The only two brands on that list that will offer a full suite of sizing in all drives are Proto and Ko-ken. Williams, Hazet, and Wright all skip sizes based on the drive size and the points (6/8/12). Hazet is hard to source. Williams and Wright are often on backorder and you might be stuck waiting a bit for them. Proto is getting more expensive but still readily available at Zoro and you can find coupons for them here and elsewhere. Ko-ken isn't often on sale outside of their US site but that is often marked up. Some of their other distributors, like Palmac, HJE, and DRPD will have better prices and even sales.

Williams are the only sockets that are going to have a shallow shoulder/broach on the standard and deep sockets which makes them really useful. The Protos have a more traditional mid-length shoulder on the deeps and a full broach on the standards. Ko-ken and Hazet are in the middle with a shallow but a bit deeper shoulder. Wright is all over the board as I have some with a full broach and a half-broach in the deeps. The Williams and Ko-ken have a nice neck-down taper so they get into a lot more places and their bigger sizes for the Ko-ken have the taper on the bottom. Proto can have some ugly broaching compared to the other brands but the sockets are stupidly stout. People here claim the Williams are a bit softer, but mine have been alright; their size stampings are really small and a pain to see. I have all these brands and use them all for work and play.

Overall, if you don't mind the wait and you're cool with socket sets consisting of more traditional size ranges and you can live with 12pt metric chromes I'd recommend Williams. They are affordable, have the shallow shoulder which helps with car stuff, MiUSA (if you want it and you pay attention to the SKU/model number), and they aren't pretty so you won't care if you trash them up. If you want the absolute full range of socket sizes (both in measurement and shallow/semi/deep) then go Ko-ken.

I absolutely love my Proto stuff but they are more industrial and I find that they don't work as well with car stuff as they do with my work stuff. I'm not saying a mechanic would fail with them, but they are kind of big, thick, and heavy. Hazet is a brand I'm still exploring but I do like them a lot. Just so hard to find and really expensive. Wright, as far as sockets, I would pass on.

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