Between the Snap-On “hand-me-downs” my dad left me when he passed and my own Allen brand tools he bought me as a teen, I have a pretty complete collection of hand tools. So much so, that it has been many years since I’ve really had to buy any at all.
Given this limited experience in the modern market, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this review is old news to most of you… But, a year or so ago I bought a Wera Tool-Check Plus to serve in a road-side tool kit for an old Porsche. Fortunately, the German hot rod is pretty damned reliable and the Wera kit has sat untouched in a tool roll ever since.
This past week, however, I had a weber act up, foul some plugs, and just generally wreak so much havoc on the flat-6 that I had to pull over to diagnose the issue. Using only the tools included in the kit (plus a 1/4 to 3/8″ adapter and a spark plug socket), I was able to remove the fouled plugs, install some fresh examples, and break down the weber far enough to find the culprit – a dirty fuel clogged jet.
Through this process, I was so impressed with the Wera tools that I was inspired to write this little review. Even though it’s a little consumer kit of various drivers, bits, and ratchets, the tools within pass the feel check on par with something more like Snap On. The tiny 1/4″ ratchet is fantastic and the novelly shaped grip on the mini-driver is nothing short of perfect.
The bits in the kit are just bits, but the sockets? They feel great and I adore the color coding on each size. The case that everything is stored in is just as impressive – it’s made of some kind of high-impact plastic, feels great, and once everything is packed away, nothing rattles at all.
My only real complaint is that it sort of feels like a waste to have these things in a road-side kit an not in my daily rotation.
Anyway, like I said… this is probably old news to most of you, but if you haven’t given Wera much of a shot, this kit is a great place to start. You can get the metric kit here or the SAE kit here. Expect to pay around $80.
NOTE: I am not sponsored by Wera, have never talked to anyone with the company, and paid full price for my own kit.
I do think they are broached better than my other sockets just based on how clean the sidewalls are. I believe only my Ko-kens are neater, if that makes sense. But yeah, on the outside they aren’t as sweet as chrome sockets.
