Wright Grip Wrenches - Is this normal?

[met89]

I recently bought two sets of Wright Grip wrenches, one SAE and one metric. I was very surprised at the poor quality chroming, is this normal or did I get a bad production run?

The SAE wrenches are a lot worse than the metric ones. These are brand new, never been used wrenches purchased from Zoro. Some of them have chunks of chrome missing. You may need to zoom in to see the issues, especially on DSC_0600.

 

[mike93lx]

I would expect better from Harbor freight.

 

[JRPAviator]

Send those back…

 

[JRPAviator]

And by send them back: call zoro. Tell them the sizes that are messed up. Send pictures if needed and have them send you individuals of the ones that are bad. Reasoning is maybe it’s a bad run of sets and the individuals may be from a different lot. At least there is a good chance.

Edit: Wright is still digging out of their backlog from what I have heard. Even their excellence can miss things and have QC issues as they try to produce as fast as possible.

 

[IndyGarage]

So how well do they work? I'm sorry, but if you are worried about that on your wrenches, send them back, you don't deserve to work with them.

Wrenches are made to turn bolts. They get dropped on the concrete and banged against knuckles and frames and sharp edges. They get smashed with a hammer and doubled up.

 

[mike93lx]

So how well do they work? I'm sorry, but if you are worried about that on your wrenches, send them back, you don't deserve to work with them.

Wrenches are made to turn bolts. They get dropped on the concrete and banged against knuckles and frames and sharp edges. They get smashed with a hammer and doubled up.

Yes, abuse is the only correct way to use tools and one should not care how things look that they spend their money on.

 

[Snapped-off]

So how well do they work? I'm sorry, but if you are worried about that on your wrenches, send them back, you don't deserve to work with them.

Wrenches are made to turn bolts. They get dropped on the concrete and banged against knuckles and frames and sharp edges. They get smashed with a hammer and doubled up.

I'd be concerned with chrome flaking off in those areas. Have you ever been sliced open by a chrome flake?

Also, aesthetics that bad on a brand new top tier set of wrenches is pretty valid.

 

[Theronswanson]

From what I've seen, no that's not normal. Used return maybe?

 

[IndyGarage]

Yes, abuse is the only correct way to use tools and one should not care how things look that they spend their money on.

I call that using them. I've been doing that for about 5 years with my wright wrenches. They can take it. They aren't jewelry. They are tools.

Looks to me like almost all of those "flaws" are from the holders that the wrench was on when it went in the plating tank. I imagine its normal for their process.

I'd be concerned with chrome flaking off in those areas. Have you ever been sliced open by a chrome flake?

Also, aesthetics that bad on a brand new top tier set of wrenches is pretty valid.

Flaking is where the Chrome isn't adhering to the substrate. That's not what this is.

Could they do better? Maybe - but it doesn't affect the functionality of the tool a bit.

 

[Etchase]

Why do Taiwan, Chinese, and Indian wrenches have such a high polish and near defect free plating, while these $50 USA products shipped looking like this?

 

[john.k]

Simple ----Asian tool polishers are paid $2 /hr ,and if there is a defect ,they will never work in tool industry again...........and here s a radical thought ,just maybe they dont hold a grudge against the company that employs them.

 

[john.k]

Its possible there is a machining burr left where the defect is ,and the burr is plated over............I know the inside of the bi-hex isnt meant to be plated ,and most brands use a silver paint to cover up any rust that may form in the space.

 

[four.cycle]

methinks thou doth protest too much.

 

[Andres26tnt]

I call that using them. I've been doing that for about 5 years with my wright wrenches. They can take it. They aren't jewelry. They are tools.

Looks to me like almost all of those "flaws" are from the holders that the wrench was on when it went in the plating tank. I imagine its normal for their process.

Flaking is where the Chrome isn't adhering to the substrate. That's not what this is.

Could they do better? Maybe - but it doesn't affect the functionality of the tool a bit.

Nonsense, I been sliced open by "Normal" defects as you say. Once it's peeling it doesn't take long to flake, specially after prolonged used. I can't excuse defects that can hurt you, I've experienced it.

 

[four.cycle]

^ where is the "peeling"?

 

[F-22]

I have lots of old and reasonably abused wrenches. If they're chromed well, they do not flake like that.

Not only a visual thing, chrome coating on a high end wrench is supposed to be relatively thick, a coating of ~0.1mm or more. Even if only half that, it already affects the tolerances. These are supposed to be anti-slip wrenches, they need to be precise for their application.

 

[four.cycle]

Why do Taiwan, Chinese, and Indian wrenches have such a high polish and near defect free plating, while these $50 USA products shipped looking like this?

Because they do not have the environmental regulations in place that we do here.
It was for that reason that Cal Custom (and Mr. Gasket and others) shipped all their chrome plating to Mexico in the mid-1970s: better chroming, and less hassle.
I'm honestly surprised that anyone is doing it in country today.

But in respect to these particular items, I'm not seeing a huge problem - when I think "chrome peel" I think "Thorsen open-end wrench".
This ain't it.

 

[Andres26tnt]

^ where is the "peeling"?

Doesn't necessarily need to "peel". One of my ratchets had a small defect like pictured, you know not an issue . That non issue pealed all of a sudden and cut me, was pretty pissed after that. Learn my lesson, now I return any tool with defective chrome plating.

 

[Samuel D]

Your photos with arrows remind me of mine of some Stahlwille spanners a few years ago. My complaints met a mixed reaction here:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/stahlwille-stabil-20-spanners-bad-batch.424838/

In the years since then I’ve become a bit less fussy about tool defects, because I’ve seen that all brands have problems. I have rough stuff from all the big German brands, French-made Facom, Toptul, American-made Proto, even Snap-on and Ko-ken.

If there’s one brand that stands out for consistently good surface finish quality and chroming it is Taiwanese-made Facom. Very few faults with that stuff and none of them serious in all the items I have. The odd millimetre-scale nick in the steel or flaking chrome inside a socket.

All the same, I’d feel unlucky if I got those Wright examples. Though you don’t say what size these spanners are so we can judge the scale of the defects.

 

[john.k]

I d just stone the rough spots off ,and be happy.

 

[username2]

Simple ----Asian tool polishers are paid $2 /hr ,and if there is a defect ,they will never work in tool industry again...........and here s a radical thought ,just maybe they dont hold a grudge against the company that employs them.

Why do Taiwan, Chinese, and Indian wrenches have such a high polish and near defect free plating, while these $50 USA products shipped looking like this?

I strongly suspect that a quick plant tour would tell you the difference.

If I had to guess, the Taiwanese floor looks modern and Wright looks like something from a Dickens novel.

 

[IndyGarage]

I strongly suspect that a quick plant tour would tell you the difference.

If I had to guess, the Taiwanese floor looks modern and Wright looks like something from a Dickens novel.

I've never been in a plating room that looks good unless it's brand new.

Those wrenches were clearly plated on a rack. You have to have an electrical connection to the tool through the holder. It's the better and more expensive process.

If you don't want finish marks like that, then you plate in a rolling basket. It's cheaper and it works, but you can't control the thickness as well and if you don't pay attention to the cleanliness of the solutions, that's when you get flaking.

 

[neophyte]

The “roughness” inside the open end jaws is normal, especially on industrial wrench brands,
It’s the result of how the normally used broaches for sizing the insides cut the open end out.
The insides of box ends are sometimes not plated, or will also be rough, or will have a couple points lacking plating, were the electrodes used for plating were mounted.

“Perfect” chrome, even with “high end” tools, isn’t always a thing, now or even in the past.
I’ve seen minor “flaws” from brands such as Facom, SK, Bonney, Knipex, etc.

 

[username2]

I've never been in a plating room that looks good unless it's brand new.

Those wrenches were clearly plated on a rack. You have to have an electrical connection to the tool through the holder. It's the better and more expensive process.

If you don't want finish marks like that, then you plate in a rolling basket. It's cheaper and it works, but you can't control the thickness as well and if you don't pay attention to the cleanliness of the solutions, that's when you get flaking.

Cool. Someone who knows.

Is it really such a good plan to plate the load bearing surfaces on something like that? Is plating something a great idea on flexible surfaces like open-end wrenches? No doubt, once the chrome is breached, it'll continue to chip. For all I know, applying a hard surface is just the thing to do since it's now a kind of composite material.

 

[finn]

The cosmetically beautiful, thick, shiny plating that appeals to the eye isn’t necessarily desirable in a tool that actually used for work.

There’s an issue with thick chrome involving crack propagation, where cracks originating in the overplated zone propagate into the base material and generate structural failure. This was a real problem in things like Belleville thrust washers in fuel injection equipment and the face coating on piston rings. Although a hand wrench will likely never see the unit loading or cycles of those examples, the principle stands.

The solution is to minimize the coating thickness and go to what is known as a high crack count chrome. Looking at a plated surface under a sem (scanning electron microscope) there are hundreds upon hundreds of tiny cracks on the surface. The visibly shinier plating has fewer but larger cracks that tend to propagate easier, and lead to flaking or failure of the components.

High crack chrome isn’t as shiny to the naked eye, because it has many more tiny micro cracks, but those micro cracks don’t propagate as easily and the component in question has a longer service life in a severe application.

Moral of the lecture is that what appears to be high quality to the novice because it’s bright and shiny visually isn’t necessarily best for longivity.

 

[micromind]

Why do Taiwan, Chinese, and Indian wrenches have such a high polish and near defect free plating, while these $50 USA products shipped looking like this?

Environmental regulatory ****.........

 

[Hakeem]

Your photos with arrows remind me of mine of some Stahlwille spanners a few years ago. My complaints met a mixed reaction here:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/stahlwille-stabil-20-spanners-bad-batch.424838/

In the years since then I’ve become a bit less fussy about tool defects, because I’ve seen that all brands have problems. I have rough stuff from all the big German brands, French-made Facom, Toptul, American-made Proto, even Snap-on and Ko-ken.

If there’s one brand that stands out for consistently good surface finish quality and chroming it is Taiwanese-made Facom. Very few faults with that stuff and none of them serious in all the items I have. The odd millimetre-scale nick in the steel or flaking chrome inside a socket.

All the same, I’d feel unlucky if I got those Wright examples. Though you don’t say what size these spanners are so we can judge the scale of the defects.

Did you keep the wrenches? If so, did they hold up?

 

[Samuel D]

Environmental regulatory ****.........

That’s right. Used to be you could get a bit of cadmium, lead chromate, cyanide or good old Cr(VI) – hexavalent chromium – on any street corner, so long as the neighbourhood was poor anyway. Those were the days. If you lived to 65 you were an old man, and looked it. Now we’re stuck with another couple of decades. Who asked for this?

 

[Samuel D]

Did you keep the wrenches? If so, did they hold up?

Sent them back.

I spent the refund on a Toptul AAEI set that had more spanners (but in larger sizes that I haven’t strictly needed so far, though I’ve optionally used them for fun).

There’s a lot of love for Toptul here, and I share some of it, but the Toptul deep-offset spanners that I got had much bulkier heads than the Stahlwilles. And some of the chamfers were too deep, leaving not enough engagement with shallow bolt heads. I had this problem with some very short Toptul spanners too, photos here:

Baffled by Wright marketing...

Ugh, that 12x14 looks like it shares a forging die with the 13x15 or a 1/2"x 9/16" or something. I wouldn't call that an "improvement" either. Thanks for the heads up. Looks that way to me also. I hate **** like that as I have some impact sockets that clearly do the same thing. Edit- to be...

www.garagejournal.com

So, in short, I might have been better off keeping the rough Stahlwille set. But back then I expected perfection from that brand.

After these experiences I’ve gone off Toptul spanners too. Still love Toptul sockets (on someone else’s ratchet), but even those have become a lot more expensive while certainly not improving in quality.

 

[Etchase]

Rotar Machinary, the parent company of Toptul, is a leading supplier of vibratory surface finishing equipment and services. They distribute a lot of hand tools, but their actual hand tool manufacturing is limited to 40,000 a day compared to over a million for Apex. Topful is the same range as Channel Lock. Vibratory equipment has pretty much replaced human tool polishers, and improved end products as is evident in the terrific finish on many tools we enjoy today.

 

[username2]

That’s right. Used to be you could get a bit of cadmium, lead chromate, cyanide or good old Cr(VI) – hexavalent chromium – on any street corner, so long as the neighbourhood was poor anyway. Those were the days. If you lived to 65 you were an old man, and looked it. Now we’re stuck with another couple of decades. Who asked for this?

Well, there you have it.

It probably explains why there used to be so few fat people.
---

I have to admit, given that I live somewhere were rust isn't really an issue, I'd probably have gone industrial finish on wrenches if starting over. I wonder how that Williams red/yellow wrench coating lasts and what kind of witchcraft is that stuff? Why don't they make red pliers dammit?

For one thing, you feel a lot less guilty when you slide a wrench across the floor.

 

[woody 73]

I look at a different way in that it is your money that you have worked so hard to obtain. With that being said send them back if that is your wish for another set of wrenches.

But (always a but), when you get your perfect set of wrenches, and you are 100% happy due keep in mind as someone else has pointed out from above that in the course of working with them they will over time get those battle scars.

A happy camper is a contented person.

 

[dnschmidt]

Can you only imagine the outrage if these were ICON wrenches instead of the sacred Wright made in Ohio USA ones. If a wrench made in another country is defective load up the B-52's and bomb those fuckers into the stone age. If it's USA well, it was just a small manufacturing defect and no big deal.

 

[Jswain]

Can you only imagine the outrage if these were ICON wrenches instead of the sacred Wright made in Ohio USA ones. If a wrench made in another country is defective load up the B-52's and bomb those fuckers into the stone age. If it's USA well, it was just a small manufacturing defect and no big deal.

Chronic complainers are chronic complainers.

The internet just makes it much more apparent, and gives them an outlet to broadcast on.

Like the people who can't go to any restaurant without having too much salt on x item, too slow of service, didn't want onions on this, should have had tomatoes on that

They are the same people who "aren't paid to use self checkout", expect the red carpet to roll out to their car doors at home Depot, want to be waited on as soon as they walk through the door at Walmart.

They are the same people who wish things were still made in the good ole USA. ***** about COO

If you have enough time to complain about the chrome on the inside of an opened ended wrench being slightly discoloured from the rest, life must be pretty f*cking good so stop complaining.

To be fair I would give equal amounts of **** if it was icon wrenches = 0

 

[belvedere]

Can you only imagine the outrage if these were ICON wrenches instead of the sacred Wright made in Ohio USA ones. If a wrench made in another country is defective load up the B-52's and bomb those fuckers into the stone age. If it's USA well, it was just a small manufacturing defect and no big deal.

Exactly. When HF tools look like ****, we hear things like "you get what you pay for". When it's Wright, that cost twice as much, the purchaser is supposed to shut up and like it.

 

[Jswain]

Exactly. When HF tools look like ****, we hear things like "you get what you pay for". When it's Wright, that cost twice as much, the purchaser is supposed to shut up and like it.

Yeah, but it would fix the problem also if they just shut up on both circumstances.

Don't like MacDonald's? Don't eat there, don't like home Depot? Don't shop there

Stop complaining

 

[Basskiller]

 

[john.k]

Brother has a 1960 panhead,and he brought over the rear exhaust crossover for a repair while he found a correct nos one ..........I set to brazing in some repair tubing,and quickly realized there was no steel left ...the exhaust was thick plating ......thats thick plating.

 

[BrandonV]

If I had to guess, the Taiwanese floor looks modern and Wright looks like something from a Dickens novel.

A couple years ago I looked at some oil filters that came out of a brand new manufacturing plant in Vietnam.

Looked like they belonged on the space shuttle with that build quality. New equipment will do that.

 

[username2]

A couple years ago I looked at some oil filters that came out of a brand new manufacturing plant in Vietnam.

Looked like they belonged on the space shuttle with that build quality. New equipment will do that.

It seems to me that people are too quick to assume (a) that it's all about low labor cost and (b) the results are always worse in mainland Asia.

These people are building to a price point and can make anything given sufficient $$$$ in factory input and QA on the back side. It would be interesting to see a really good analysis of the cost of doing business in various places and see the actual numbers for taxes, zoning, pollution control, wages, local cost of materials, bribery to local officials (which is true anywhere), etc.

As a related aside, one of these tool test YouTube guys could stand to take an apples to apples comparison of product, let's say Wiha pliers for example, and see the effect offshoring had on the physical product.