Tool shopping is a dangerous game. Sometimes you walk in for some PB B’Laster and a weird socket and walk out having spent $100, and sometimes you just see stuff that makes the Bud Light “Real Men of Genius” song play in your head. I hit up Princess Auto (basically the Canadian equivalent of Harbor Freight for when you need something Canadian Tire doesn’t carry) yesterday to grab a few sundries, and stumbled across one of the greatest tool sets I’ve seen in my life – the Titan 10×10 10 mm socket set.
Basically, it’s a pack of five 1/4-inch drive 10 mm sockets and five 3/8-inch drive 10 mm sockets, all with different functions. The kit comes with a standard six-point 10 mm chrome socket for standard use, a deep-well six-point chrome 10 mm socket for when you need extra depth, a 10 mm chrome socket with a u-joint for hardware that’s tricky to access, and then standard and deep-well six-point 10 mm impact sockets you can slap on an impact driver and whizz away on difficult hardware with, all in 1/4-in and 3/8-in drives. Obviously, it’s frowned-upon to use the chrome sockets on an electric impact driver as they could snap and take you eye out, but at the same time, I’m not your dad. Just use your best judgement when it comes to stuff like this and don’t say I didn’t warn you.
In case you’re blissfully unaware of how critical 10 mm sockets are for working on modern cars, most cars I’ve owned have required 10mm sockets for fairly basic jobs. For instance, removing the rear fender liners on an E90 3-Series absolutely requires a 10mm socket, as does changing the cabin air filter on a 2003-2004 Infiniti G35. Because of how some of this hardware is recessed, you just can’t get at it with a 10 mm spanner, and if you aren’t vigilant with your tools, it’s easy to misplace your 10 mm sockets, even if you just set them down for a second mid-job.
Hell, there’s an entire subset of memes dedicated to 10 mm sockets and how often people lose them. You’ve probably seen a few float across your social media feeds over the years, all with varying degrees of tastefulness. “I got 99 sockets but a 10 mm ain’t one” is always a chuckle, but putting one of these sockets on the side of a milk carton gets iffy.
This 10-pack of 10 mm sockets would make a fantastic gift for wrench-happy car enthusiasts. Birthdays, anniversaries, bar mitzvahs, weddings, divorces, you name it, a bunch of 10 mm sockets is always useful. Best of all, it’s cheap – around $20 if you look around a bit. While I’m sure these aren’t the highest-quality sockets money can buy, sometimes the quantity is so great that it simply makes up for average durability. I had a few ratcheting wrenches made by Titan and only one broke, and it was when I was doing something stupid with it. So, if you want a vast number of alright tools, you might as well give this tool set a try. At the minimum, it makes for an excellent conversation piece.
(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal, Google, Titan Tools)
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This is awesome and hilarious!
Princess Auto! Where you can buy all the materials, parts and equipment needed to build your own rudimentary tractor!
I appreciated how Melissa Holbrook Pierson’s recent motorcycle anthology was published by “10mm Socket Press” – a name for a true aficionado.
Ooooh, I had no idea she had published anything recently. The Perfect Vehicle is one of my favorites.
And its gone
One of these should be included in every Autopian membership.
I buy them in bulk now
https://www.amazon.com/BRAZEN-10mm-Socket-Drive-Shallow/dp/B08YD1SRCL
Amazing
I shall have my in house mechanic order a case from Snap-On
Is this Fancy Kristen’s pseudonym account?
Pretty sure common origin story for most designers involves a silver spoon, similarly for any Architect or Doctor (MD or DO) & Veternarians.
That said I have Zero idea if this includes Adrian or not ????
A great idea. The other day I changed the air filter on my Challenger and automatically grabbed a 10mm socket. Turns out it uses 8mm. I literally said out loud, “What are they trying to prove?”
It’s Mopar. They probably got a deal on twenty million 8mm bolts.
I’m just glad they were all the same size.
I’ve heard of French cars using things like 9mm bolts, so now that Peugeot is part of Stellantis…
Probably reverse threaded too.
Ahhmmm that is called “French threaded” or “Left Threaded” thank you very much…
At least that’s what I’ve always heard both for cars & bicycles.
Given French manufacturers well known habit of “doing things their own way, common sense or common convention be damned…” French threaded makes a lot of sense for going against the norm.
On bikes the left side crank is the most common part that comes to mind that is Reverse / French / “Left*” threaded
*ie lefty tighty, righty loosey
Why is the 10mm thing even a meme? Why do we keep acting like it is a thing?
I have been turning wrenches for like 40 years, almost every day, and I can count the total amount of tools I have lost on one hand. I am not sure I have ever even lost a 10mm.
How do y’all work that you’re losing tools all the time? I work out of a service truck on remote sites and still manage to end the day with the same tools I started with.
I’ve had several disappear into the engine bay after a slip and not hit the ground. I couldn’t see where they went, so couldn’t retrieve them. I think it happens more with 10mm because it’s the most used and it’s relatively small. As long as it disappears harmlessly, if I can’t find it, eh. If it fell into the intake or something, different story.
You don’t have a magnet, a mirror, and a good light?
I cannot imagine leaving a tool in something and considering it a completed repair, personal or professional.
If you don’t know where it is you don’t know it isn’t somewhere it can become a problem.
I have all of those and more. And I was motivated, yet, there’s a 92 Honda running around that managed to secret away a 14mm from a set I treasured.
That’s a bummer.
I know it CAN happen, I’ve lost stuff never to be found but it is just such an infrequent thing.
And yet…. I’ve wrenched on a couple of old cars (I don’t profess to be a “mechanic” – Mongo just wrench-monkey in garage of life) and I have found at least three 10mm sockets. As a bonus I once found a broken chinesium box-end 10mm that had snapped in half in the tire well of a car.
So, maybe the Pros don’t lose ’em , but somebody does.
I once dropped a very expensive 12pt 1/4 drive 5/16 swivel socket into the belly of some equipment; it was the only way to get to a fastener. When I went magnet fishing I got 3 of them before I got mine.
Honestly, I have found more than I’ve lost. My 1/4” kit is full of random finds from some cheap crap to a very nice old Snap-On ratchet
Ha I’m mentally picturing “magnet fishing” in the oil pan of some huge CAT engine.
The fact you found 3 others bf finding your own, shows why this story is relatable!
You need one of those endoscopes that Mercedes highlighted on the gelatinous outdoor-meal site. I got one for <$40 and while I haven’t needed it too often, it is a freaking godsend when I do need it. It even has magnet and hook attachments for grabbing things that have fallen.
https://jalopnik.com/check-out-this-cheap-wireless-endoscope-1845576878
Humor, meet DUG.
DUG, this is Humor.
I just don’t see the humor in being bad at being a mechanic as a meme that seems it will never die.
I mean, I don’t consider myself bad at emailing, but do I lose emails (in a closed system where it shouldn’t be possible?) Yes.
Just because it hasn’t happened to you, doesn’t make your experience the majority. You just have a confirmation bias.
Let people laugh, and I am happy for you that you haven’t lost your sockets. Maybe just your marbles.
It doesn’t really happen to most of the people I know who turn wrenches.
I mean everybody has lost a tool or two over the years but everyone I know has their 10mms…
You, my friend, obviously don’t have a garage gnome infestation… I’ve literally put a tool down and taken my eyes off it for a second only for it to have disappeared. Those little bastards are sneaky and I think they use 10 mm sockets for some kind of energy source.
I currently have some rat traps with 10 mm sockets as bait but they’re too clever for that…
Garage names are close relatives to sock thief elfs. Their preferred theft environment is the laundry room, especially they like the hot environment of your dryer & they therefore steal 1 sock out of a pair directly from your dryer. Some say they use the fabric to make their own clothing. I think they do it out of spite
I’m with you notoriousDUG.
I don’t lose tools either.
But, I’m an obsessive maniac.
I’ve made custom leather rolls for my sets with magnets sewn in to keep them in place and a perforated pocket that holds a desiccant pouch in each roll.
I also made a leather sheet about the size of a chess board with 65lb pull strength magnets strategically sewn in that will hang from anything metal and holds most hand tools weight.
Again, I’m an obsessive maniac. I’m that guy that draws a rough sketch of whatever I’m about to take apart on a piece of cardboard with a sharpie and sticks all the nuts and bolts through in their corresponding location on the drawing as I remove them from the part.
Again, I’m an obsessive maniac.
Radiohead’s “Everything In It’s Right Place” is my theme song.
My wife on the other hand could lose a lit road flare in a dark, empty room.
And somehow I still love her.
Different strokes for different folks everybody.
Yes, yes you are. The world needs people like you, just don’t get to close. 🙂
Early on, I ran into a water pump with 3 different bolt lengths. I’ve used cardboard bolt-holders for unfamiliar things since-and it’s saved me a few times. Never was ambitious enough to make wrench wraps, but I’ve kept rails & holders for socket sets I cared about and therefore rarely lost any. I go along with the meme, but I still have all 3 10mm sockets I bought discounted at Sears’ Father’s Day Sale some 25 years ago. I lost the 14mm I noted above out of those sets- and broken a couple- but those sets are otherwise complete still
I’ve found that pizza boxes work the best. And who doesn’t do this?
I rarely lose tools, but there was one time I dropped an entire socket set ( a small one at least) while I was trying to remove an old satellite dish from my roof. Miraculously, I found all but one socket. The lost socket was the 11mm. The gods were smiling at me that day.
It’ smore that people walk off with them.
Not with mine. Unless you’re willing to lose your deposit.
Now I know where all my 10mm sockets went.
I was told by a Snap-On dealer that chrome sockets aren’t supposed to be used on an impact wrench because the chrome is so hard it will deform the part that retains the socket and eventually sockets will fall off. So I always use a short impact extension if I’m using chrome sockets on my impact gun.
It is sad your Snap-On dealer knows that little about tools…
You do not use chrome with impact tools because it is a much harder material and if/when it fails it can do so explosively. Softer impact sockets deform and fail less dramatically.
So much mythiness. You don’t use chrome sockets because the chrome can come detached from the underlying steel from the impacts. The chrome flakes turn into razor blades spinning at high speed. Not safe, but not explosive.
What you are describing is shrapnel, which by definition is produced by an explosive event.
Again, I am an obsessive maniac.
Sorry, too close?
Enjoy your lead-lined bunker.
90% of the time my Klein 10mm Cushion-Grip Nut Driver does the trick.
It’s a great tool for around $8.
“Yaaarrrr, it’s drivin’ me nuts!”
(punchline to an old joke)
I hear you, though. I have an old Craftsman nut driver set (metric + SAE in a zippered case), but don’t really use them that much due to the lack of leverage compared to a ratchet.
A pirate walks into a bar….
I made sure to mention the cushion-grip.
It makes all the difference when it comes to leverage. (I don’t have the hands of The Rock Biter).
Klein makes some of the best (or did, mine are ten years old and have never needed replacing) driver handles.
Their 11-in-1 screwdriver/nut driver is probably the most worthwhile $14 I’ve ever spent.
They are generally regarded as electricians tools but I find that they excel beyond that niche.
I’d strongly recommend Klein drivers to a fellow tool snob.
What is a pirate’s favorite Honda?
The cushion grip would definitely be a big help. I have a couple of Klein electrical tools but none of their wrenching-type tools, and appreciate the strong recommendation.
Is the pirate’s favorite Honda a C-Aaarrrr-X?
Oh god no! It’s a Civic, Type AaahRrrrrr!
😀
Clarrrrrity? Accarrrrrrd? C-Arrrrrr-V?
Civic type Arrrrr?
Nailed it.
I heartily endorse the Klein 11-in1 screw/nut driver. Had mine for 7 years doing industrial HVAC. Not the cheapest, but they don’t rust heavily even when chucked away wet over the weekend
I remember the day I learned about cushion grip nut drivers. It changed my life. It’s still one of my favorite tools together with a band saw and a battery operated brad nail gun (no compressor!)
I’ve seen a pack of 3 10mm sockets at Wal-Mart, and I bought ’em. Not great tools but in a pinch they’ll do.
As for why the 10s disappear, I can’t explain, but it seems like I have extra 11s and 9s.
My short 10mm socket went missing about 4 years ago, and it decided to return to me last night!
Proof that miracles do happen!
Oh shit. Where did I put it?
Sounds like you have a garage gnome infestation too… I think they feed on our frustration over lost tools.
I have a tool bag I carry around everywhere and funnily enough, the only fixed size tool in it is the 10mm combo wrench. Now I want this 10x10x10 set. 🙂
I once referred to Princess Auto as the happiest place on Earth. I was not kidding. Their surplus section is awesome, and if you watch sales, you can get some solid deals.
I shouldn’t jinx it, but… My grandfather bought me an assortment of Craftsman tools for high school graduation (in hindsight, he’s the only one who understood me) including full sets of SAE and metric sockets in various drive sizes. I’m proud to say I still own all four flavors of 10mm socket from those original sets, 33 years ago.
My late ex father in law did the same for me! I still have most of the tools. I can say, however, that the extended 1/4″ 10mm is long gone.
I bought a set like this, took it home, put it inside of a portable safe, and put that safe inside of my locking toolbox. Took it out to use, and they were gone.
Also, this is brilliant, but they’ll all go missing one way or another BRAZEN 10mm Socket 100 Pack (3/8″ Drive, 6pt, Shallow) https://a.co/d/dVDE9k0
https://www.harborfreight.com/10mm-metric-essential-socket-set-10-piece-58957.html?_br_psugg_q=10+mm+socket
I have been raving about this for weeks!!! I want the same thing in a 1/2 in set also.
A few years ago for Xmas I made a set of 10mm sockets for the nephew (bought them separately and put them on a socket holder). He was pretty amused when he saw they were all 10mm. 🙂
I took a spare one, put it on a small carabiner, and attached it to my keyring. You never know…
You buy 10 x 10mm sockets, but you will always be one short when you need it most
Buying a 10-pack only guarantees that you will lose 10 sockets.
As long as you leave at least two in the container, they should keep reproducing.
Now I’m really looking forward to the new movie in the Pixar Cars universe : Sockets
5 MM Allen Head sockets also, because nothingis quite as frustrating as trying to use a hand turn allen wrench on the myriad of Amazon bought stuff. and worse if you try to use the ones provided in the bolt kits usually.
There’s a good way to address that: take some inexpensive Allen wrenches, cut off the short side (so you have just the long straight side with none of the bend), and put that hex shaft into a 5mm socket. Add a dab of clear silicone in the socket to keep the hex portion from falling out.
Added bonus: this will give you a bit more reach than a regular Allen socket.
It’s always been 4mm for me, but my motorcycle has a lot of both 4 and 5mm Allen heads. I can always find the 5mm, but the 4mm is usually AWOL. I have no idea why.
Usually I like to give the marketing folks a lot of shit, but this is genius. You should have put an Amazon link in this article!
Titan #68660 for ease of search
Astro Pneumatic sells a 4-piece set with markings that glow under UV light 🙂
You know 9 of them will grow legs and walk off. 🙂
Of course-but at least I’ll have one then
Hahaha you fool