Fair comments. The Expert sockets I have had were all spot on, not perfect, but certainly not as you describe. So bad quality control? As you say, you take a gamble with cheaper tools.
But, I still stand by my comment that they are excellent value. Last year I picked up the Expert 1/2" socket set for £50, inc VAT and delivered to the door. The blow moulded case is good, holds tight, and with the foam, there are no rattles. It is ideal for the car and sits under the front seat. I bought the Facom set execting a lot better, and I don't believe they were.
Yeah, I didn't expect that all Expert stuff is as bad as mine, but there certainly seems to be some QC issues. Interestingly I sold my socket set last year on ebay for about £50
I have limited experience with Stahlwille, so can't say anything., but wouldn't have expected the above. Out of interest do you know who they have gone with now and are they better or worse?
I'm not sure - we didn't get that far into it. I'll try to remember to ask though. One of the guys has moved on however (now working for an F1 team) so he may not know. It's worth pointing out that they both mentioned the issues during separate conversations several months apart. I was surprised as the brand seems to enjoy a decent reputation on this forum.
It may just boil down to how tools are used when they're provided vs how they're used when you're paying for them. I know I would personally try and not damage or over-stress a tool I paid a lot of money for. In the very best case it's a minor hassle to replace it
I have to agree with you there. The Elora ring ends are a bit of a disappointment. Is it careless manufacturing, or just being behind the times and failure to invest in modern machinery? Elora strike me as old fashioned. They don't seem to have changed much over the last number of years. The same could be said for King ****.
I can't say the particular Elora items have seen a lot of use, so they may function and hold up just fine for me. I had much higher expectations from a German-made tool though.
I have some King **** offset ring spanners and t-handled nut spinners. The ring spanners are older, made-in-England, quite crude, and use about twice as much metal as a comparable-sized Gedore. No comment on whether that's good or bad, but they're certainly not elegant or finely crafted. Probably better for working on old lorries and farm equipment than cars and motorcycles.
The nut spinners I think (and hope) are imported -no "Made in England" on them, the welds are very sloppy, sockets not all properly centred on the shaft, plating/paint missing inside the sockets (and rusting as a result).
As soon as I have an issue with any of my Facom stuff (or any other brand I own) I'll post up the details and pics. I have seen Alx's problem bit socket (made in France) first hand and there is a shocking amount of damage - you'd think he'd used an impact gun on it. I suspect it hasn't been properly tempered. I haven't had any issues like that myself, but the only France-marked Facom sockets I have are an old, used AF set that I bought for "just in case".
I did take in an old Facom ratchet yesterday -it was starting to slip and jump out of engagement. I'd taken it apart, cleaned and lubed, but it still had problems. There was no notable wear on the pawl or head gears, so I expect the spring wire just gets weak or worn over time. Anyhow popped into the local shop and they installed a rebuild kit for me (for free) and it's perfect again.
