Gearwrench Mechanics Tool Set Review

Every hobbyist automotive enthusiast should have a decent set of tools. Even if you aren’t interested in the deep dive into automobile modifications or upgrades, being able to do simple things yourself will save you money and increase your pride and enjoyment in your vehicle. The foundation of any tool box is what is often marketed as a mechanics set of tools. Basically, it’s going to be a socket set and some wrenches and probably a few specialty sockets and drive bits. But what should you buy?

Cheap Tools v. Good Tools v. The Best Tools

One school of thought is to buy the cheapest tools you can and just replace them when they break. Other people subscribe to the ‘buy once, cry once’ philosophy where you just go ahead and buy the best tool you can afford and get it over with. To me, the right answer is actually somewhere in between.

What distinguishes a good tool from a great one is typically long-term durability or the tool’s ability to work in edge use cases that rarely if ever arise. If you make a living with a tool, then these things matter. But to the weekend mechanic, the differences between a good tool and a great one will likely not be noticeable.

The difference between a bad tool and a good tool, however, is typically evident right away. So my philosophy is to buy good tools. Not the best and most expensive ones, but not the cheapest tools China can make either. When you can’t accomplish a task with a crappy tool, you’re never quite sure if you are the problem or the tool is the problem. With a good tool, you can work on your skills and not constantly search for ways to get around the limitations of the tool.

What Makes a Good Mechanics Tool Set?

To me it comes down to these things: features, quality, and price.

The first feature to consider is what exactly is in the set. A lot of sets that advertise having a zillion pieces are padding out the piece count with endless numbers of little driver bits. You need some driver bits, of course, but not 100 of them. So make sure everything you are getting is valuable to you.

A lot of companies, including Gearwrench, sell a lot of different sets containing different things. Not all of those sets are of equal value. Many sets come with complete sets of wrenches, for example. Obviously you need wrenches, but wrenches aren’t particularly expensive and if you aren’t careful, can act as filler in a mechanics tool set.

Look for Ratcheting Wrenches

The Gearwrench set I bought is a 232 piece set. I went with this configuration because I thought it provided the most value for my money. Rather than providing me with a set of wrenches, it comes with a set of ratcheting wrenches, which is far more helpful and something you are less likely to already have lying around your garage. The ratcheting wrench set from Gearwrench costs nearly $100 if you buy it alone, so it makes great value in the mechanics tool set.

In terms of assessing ratcheting wrenches, a higher tooth count is better. 72 tooth is common on cheap tools, 90 tooth is more common on really good tools. The Gearwrench ratcheting wrenches are 90 tooth.

Look for High Quality Ratchets and Sockets

Like the ratcheting wrenches, you want ratchets with more teeth. The more teeth, the less you have to move the tool to get it to move to the next click. If you are tightening a bolt into a part on your workbench, this won’t matter. But when you are leaning into a tight engine bay trying to get a bolt out of a snug location, more teeth means you can work in a tighter space. A lot of cheap tools have 72 teeth. Gearwrench has 90, which gives you a much smaller swing angle and a more useful tool.

The other feature you want to find is sockets that actually fit tightly onto bolts. A lot of cheap sockets have slop or play in them, where they are slightly loose when you put them on the bolt. If the bolt isn’t seized and is going to come out easily, it won’t matter. If the bolt is rusted or stuck or even just requires a lot of torque to remove, a socket with slop in it runs the risk of rounding off the bolt head.

Looking at tools on the internet, you can’t really know if the sockets are machined to a high tolerance, but one thing you can look for is how many ‘points’ the sockets have. Good socket sets will have a lot of 6 point sockets, meaning they fit perfectly on the bolt. Lesser socket sets will have nothing but 12 point sockets, meaning they have made up for the lack of precision with more teeth. A 12 point socket is easier to get on the bolt, especially if you can’t see it, so having some in your arsenal is good, but you don’t want tool chest full of them.

This Gearwrench set provides 6 point sockets for the 1/4 drive and both 6 point and 12 point sockets for the 3/8 drive. There is a strong collection of metric and a reasonable collection of SAE. There are no 1/2 drive sockets in this set, so keep that in mind as you look. There are larger sets out there that will provide a 1/2 ratchet and sockets but this one does not. 

Buy Quality Tools

So Gearwrench checks the feature boxes. You want 90 tooth ratchets and you want sockets that are generally 6 point and not manufactured with a bunch of slop. These criteria alone will narrow your search considerably. So what about quality?

Quality is a bit harder to measure. Project Farm, by far my favorite independent tool review channel on YouTube, picked the Gearwrench ratchet as the one he would buy after testing a ton of them including Snap-On. If you watch the video, the quality of the ratchet really shows up in the tests where he pushes the tools until they break, and the  Gearwrench ratchet performed very well. Check out his video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kay3z8qSEok

I don’t plan to destroy my tools just to see what it takes, but I can tell you that lining up my Stanley, Pittsburgh and Gearwrench ratchets next to each other makes it pretty clear which one is best. 

And if sight alone doesn’t sell you, picking them up definitely will. The Gearwrench is balanced, it feels solid, and it gives no indication at all when you are using it that it might break. As opposed to this Stanley 1/4 drive ratchet I picked up as part of a really cheap set from Walmart that broke the first time I used it.

I also like to look and see where tools are made. Most of what we buy comes from China these days, and China is certainly capable of making high quality items. But most companies using Chinese manufacturing are doing so to keep their costs down, not because they want the best tools built. Cheap tools are uniformly made in China. Better hand tools are often made in Taiwan, Europe, or the USA. Gearwrench is made in Taiwan.

Buyer Beware!

So I put a lot of time into searching for Gearwrench sets on the internet, and it seems to me Gearwrench has a lower level set of tools out there. They look the same and they aren’t called anything else, but I’ve seen sets that were made in China and only had 72 tooth count ratchets. I don’t know if these are simply older sets or if Gearwrench does make some sets for certain outlets for lower price points. Look at the fine print and make sure you are getting 90 tooth ratchets and that the tools were made in Taiwan.

Make Sure You Shop Around

Gearwrench does sell a number of mechanics tools sets, and those sets are sometimes set up for particular vendors which makes their pricing different. As much as I like Amazon, you can usually find Gearwrench sets cheaper in other places.

On Amazon, the 232 piece set with the ratcheting wrenches is around $300, which isn’t terrible. But I picked up the 232 piece set pictured in this article for only $229 at Home Depot (late Fall of 2022). The only difference between the Home Depot set and the Amazon set is the comfort grip handles on the Home Depot set, which to me is a bonus.

The comfort grip handles are comfortable in your hand and if you wear nitrile gloves when you work like I do and they get oil or fluids on them, the non-stick properties of the comfort grip handles keep you working. Some will argue that you don’t want the comfort grip handles because in a tight spot they will get in the way, so it’s a matter of preference. That said, if money were no object I’d probably buy a full set of Sonic tools, and those all have comfort grip handles.

So before you drop $1 per tool on a set of mechanics tools from Harbor Freight or a store brand from Home Depot or Lowes, look around and see what sets you can find in the category of ‘good’ brands (Gearwrench, DeWalt, Milwaukee, etc.). I think you can find value there, especially if you are patient and buy around holiday sales and really cross-shop the different places that sell them. Don’t assume Amazon will have the lowest price because when it comes to tools, they often don’t.

Buy a nice set of tools and you’ll enjoy them for many years to come. I like Gearwrench but there are other good brands out there too. Find what works for you and happy wrenching!