SMKS
Well-known member
New SK wrench set just arrived - Review and Pics. UPDATED!
IMPORTANT UPDATE 9/19/2011-
I assumed these wrenches were new production, because Advance Auto Parts never carried SK hand tools on their website before. After they added them to the website, I had to wait a month or two until this wrench set was listed as "In Stock." That made me believe that these were tools produced by the "new" SK owned by Ideal.
I was wrong!
I called SK today and asked them about it. They told me the 86040 wrench set (which is this one) is being produced now and won't be available to ship until the end of October.
Long story short: Advance Auto Parts got these wrenches from a distributor that still had "old" SK tools in stock.
Take this review with a grain of salt, because these wrenches were not produced by the new SK. That may explain the few quality issues, as the old SK had quality control problems before they went under.
==============
Background and ordering
I've been wanting a long SK metric wrench set. I wanted to make sure I got wrenches from an official SK distributor, so I would be getting wrenches from the "new" SK from Ideal, instead of old stock leftover in a warehouse.
I ordered the 86040 wrench set from Advance Auto Parts. They are a new distributor and didn't list the 86040 wrench set as available until just over a week ago. Advance's normal prices are competitive with other retailers, but if you use their ridiculous discount codes, they are just about the cheapest official distributor. The regular price is $158 + tax.
Member BMWpower had a thread not long before SK went under when they were having some significant quality control problems. Some of the problems he mentioned are still present on these wrenches.
First impressions
The wrench set arrived today. The box was well packaged. The wrenches had come out of place and were knocking around in the tray, but they're all there.
The chrome is overall quite good. The wrenches had the normal water spots from the factory (which I've noticed on multiple brands of wrenches). I cleaned them with some solvent and they shine very well.
The open and box ends all seem to be properly formed. In BMWpower's thread, some of the open ends weren't punched properly.
The negatives
These wrenches do have some quality control issues.
There are a quite a few areas where there are flaws in the metal underneath the chrome. These appear as small scratches or rust spots. Less than half the wrenches have at least one or two small imperfections under the chrome.
The 15mm seems to have not been properly polished. The entire wrench is covered in small flaws. Look where the light is reflecting off the chrome and you'll see the many small flaws.
The smaller wrenches bulge out where the name and size are stamped. This is a problem the old SK wrenches had also. If you run your finger along the sides of the beam, you can feel where the wrenches deformed as the name and size were stamped. It seems they are stamping them too hard, and deforming the metal. The 9mm is by far the worst, as it was improperly stamped.
The 9mm wrench, as noted above, is improperly stamped. The name is off center, the wrench bulges out a lot in the center and the wrench is bent. I put it next to a straight edge to attempt to show the bend. It is sort of bowed. It seems when the machine mis-stamped the word "SK", it also bent the middle of the wrench down.
Overall
I can only assume that these are wrenches from the "new" SK shipped from Ideal. I assume that's the case because I bought them from a new distributor that never carried SK until it was relaunched this year. However, I suppose these could be old stock that ideal acquired when they purchased SK out of bankruptcy.
These wrenches appear high quality, but they definitely aren't perfect. I can't comment on the long-term durability, but the other SK hand tools I have held up great. Unless Ideal has somehow cut quality in a way I can't see, then I would expect these to hold up as well.
I may contact SK and see about getting the 9mm and 15mm wrench replaced, as they have defects.
IMPORTANT UPDATE 9/19/2011-
I assumed these wrenches were new production, because Advance Auto Parts never carried SK hand tools on their website before. After they added them to the website, I had to wait a month or two until this wrench set was listed as "In Stock." That made me believe that these were tools produced by the "new" SK owned by Ideal.
I was wrong!
I called SK today and asked them about it. They told me the 86040 wrench set (which is this one) is being produced now and won't be available to ship until the end of October.
Long story short: Advance Auto Parts got these wrenches from a distributor that still had "old" SK tools in stock.
Take this review with a grain of salt, because these wrenches were not produced by the new SK. That may explain the few quality issues, as the old SK had quality control problems before they went under.
==============
Background and ordering
I've been wanting a long SK metric wrench set. I wanted to make sure I got wrenches from an official SK distributor, so I would be getting wrenches from the "new" SK from Ideal, instead of old stock leftover in a warehouse.
I ordered the 86040 wrench set from Advance Auto Parts. They are a new distributor and didn't list the 86040 wrench set as available until just over a week ago. Advance's normal prices are competitive with other retailers, but if you use their ridiculous discount codes, they are just about the cheapest official distributor. The regular price is $158 + tax.
Member BMWpower had a thread not long before SK went under when they were having some significant quality control problems. Some of the problems he mentioned are still present on these wrenches.
First impressions
The wrench set arrived today. The box was well packaged. The wrenches had come out of place and were knocking around in the tray, but they're all there.
The chrome is overall quite good. The wrenches had the normal water spots from the factory (which I've noticed on multiple brands of wrenches). I cleaned them with some solvent and they shine very well.
The open and box ends all seem to be properly formed. In BMWpower's thread, some of the open ends weren't punched properly.
The negatives
These wrenches do have some quality control issues.
There are a quite a few areas where there are flaws in the metal underneath the chrome. These appear as small scratches or rust spots. Less than half the wrenches have at least one or two small imperfections under the chrome.
The 15mm seems to have not been properly polished. The entire wrench is covered in small flaws. Look where the light is reflecting off the chrome and you'll see the many small flaws.
The smaller wrenches bulge out where the name and size are stamped. This is a problem the old SK wrenches had also. If you run your finger along the sides of the beam, you can feel where the wrenches deformed as the name and size were stamped. It seems they are stamping them too hard, and deforming the metal. The 9mm is by far the worst, as it was improperly stamped.
The 9mm wrench, as noted above, is improperly stamped. The name is off center, the wrench bulges out a lot in the center and the wrench is bent. I put it next to a straight edge to attempt to show the bend. It is sort of bowed. It seems when the machine mis-stamped the word "SK", it also bent the middle of the wrench down.
Overall
I can only assume that these are wrenches from the "new" SK shipped from Ideal. I assume that's the case because I bought them from a new distributor that never carried SK until it was relaunched this year. However, I suppose these could be old stock that ideal acquired when they purchased SK out of bankruptcy.
These wrenches appear high quality, but they definitely aren't perfect. I can't comment on the long-term durability, but the other SK hand tools I have held up great. Unless Ideal has somehow cut quality in a way I can't see, then I would expect these to hold up as well.
I may contact SK and see about getting the 9mm and 15mm wrench replaced, as they have defects.
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