Since I first replied to this thread I’ve been assisting a friend change some brake calipers. The pipe unions were “well on”. He tried an open ender - no luck, and rounded it a bit.
Next plan - borrow a flare nut wrench. When you borrow a tool you risk getting one from the “loan box”, which we did. Older Taiwan made, decent enough, but still wouldn’t shift it, and rounded it a bit more.
In the end we did what I should have done at the start and drove to mine to use my Snap On. Took it off straight away…!
As far as current production flare nut wrenches go, it’s pretty much got to be Snap On. There may be some as good (Hazet?) but I don’t believe there are better, and there are certainly many worse.
One observation - a couple of folks have suggested it’s not worth it as a “weekend warrior” - you don’t use them enough. Given the price of labour at the moment, I reckon you only need to do one job that you couldn’t otherwise, and the tool’s paid for!
Where you can save is by just buying the size(s) you need for your own vehicle. Probably only the pro, or industrial fitter, needs full sets(s) - but to confirm my GJ credentials I have Metric Snap On, a couple of Metric Hazet, American size Snap On, older Britool BS sizes, and the older Blue Point (pre Snap On) single enders in BS - probably the most under rated of all, although those vintage Snap On’s above are exquisite!
Edit - probably should have some pics - top to bottom - Snap On, Hazet, Britool and Blue Point. The Snap On look like they are broached off centre but they are made that way deliberately.
The Britool are beasts, but they’re designed more for pulling a fuel pipe off a diesel locomotive than a brake pipe from a Morris Minor! The handles on the Blue Point are proportionally shorter, which can be very handy.
