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are SNAP-ON tools made in china?

66K views 82 replies 40 participants last post by  tech69 
#1 ·
ok i am fairly sure that pretty much everyone here has heard of snap on tools right and i will say i have a butt load of money tied up in snap on,mac,matco,cornwell but i have recently developed a very big problem with snap on .. i have a pair of snap on wire strippers Stock#: PWC16A which i got raped on off the tool truck but o'well i needed them they list on snapon's website for like 16 or 17 dollars i paid 35 off the truck but like i said i needed them and im not the shop around type of guy if i need them and they bring them buy ill pay a "fuel and time" cost to the dealer and well the whole reason i am starting this post is a guy i work with went pawn shopping (new mechanic w/o alot of funds) and bought a pair of strippers just exactly down to the size and gram weight! and lettering EXCEPT they said made in japan as wear on my pair they say snap on!!!! so i called my dealer and he said he had heard of there being close fakes but they aren't the same but if it weighs the same looks exactly the same barring the fact that the name is different could it be that snap on just stamps their name on a Chinese steel tool???? and more then doubles the price?? now don't get me wrong i probably wont stop buying snap on tools (just recently updated my box)don't bother about the price either it was more then i paid for the ford ranger i drive back and fourth every day to work
i think those of us who buy snap on /matco/mac/cornwell/sk/proto etc, need to take a real close look,
before we buy them....
 
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#2 ·
bigblockking21 said:
i am starting this post is a guy i work with went pawn shopping (new mechanic w/o alot of funds) and bought a pair of strippers just exactly down to the size and gram weight! and lettering EXCEPT they said made in japan as wear on my pair they say snap on!!!! so i called my dealer and he said he had heard of there being close fakes but they aren't the same but if it weighs the same looks exactly the same barring the fact that the name is different could it be that snap on just stamps their name on a Chinese steel tool???? ..
First you say..."Made in Japan"........Then it's "Chinese steel".........

Which is it? They are 2 different countries................

I have heard that Snap-On is making tools overseas now.
 
#5 ·
could it be that snap on just stamps their name on a Chinese steel tool???? and more then doubles the price??
Yes, if the tools are indeed made overseas, then this is at least partially true. The name Snap-On, by itself, sells tools because of the reputation behind that name. What you need to remember that even if Snap-On is making their products in China (or Japan, or wherever), they are still staking their reputation on those products. Their desire to maintain that reputation would be enough to reassure me that the product is still good, even if it is made on a different piece of dirt outside the USA.

Whenever I see or hear complaints about "Made in China" and how crappy a product must be to have that designation, I consider that in China, everything is made in China! Things like the World Finance Center which is under construction and slated to be, I think, the second tallest skyscraper in the world. If they can make massively tall, delicate buildings that don't topple over from faulty "made in China" craftsmanship, why can't they make good tools?

Disclaimer: I'm playing devil's advocate here, I acknowledge that a lot of stuff imported from China is junk.
 
#7 ·
I don't know where their sockets are made, but they are now nowhere near the quality that they once were.

I have lost a few just like everyone does. I was missing a 1/4" drive 13mm short socket from a 20? yr old set. These sockets were show-chrome with black steel accent stripe. I caught a Snap-on truck at the Post Office and he grabbed one for me. It did not match at all and looked no different than the off-brand one that I was using temporarily. I think it was $15 w/tax.

I also bought some mint Snap-on sockets sets on ebay from a home handyman who barely used his tools and was relocating. I HAD hoped they were OLD Snap-ons... Wrong, these even had grind marks on the bases of a few sockets that were not polished out before plating. Nit-Picking?..Not when you figure in the price of these if you bought them new.
 
#9 ·
1969NovaSS said:
I have heard the same as well. But I think there boxes are still made in the USA. I guess mac has a lot of tools made in china as well. My matco guy says all there stuff is made in USA.
Big problem is most any retailer (be it the Costco/Target/ Matco guy) will tell you what you as a consumer wants to hear. Ultimately it is your job to do the research on what you are going to buy before you buy it. I think we've all been snookered into a purchase we've regretted later. I know I have.


In a while, Chet.
 
#10 ·
F&J said:
I don't know where their sockets are made, but they are now nowhere near the quality that they once were.

I have lost a few just like everyone does. I was missing a 1/4" drive 13mm short socket from a 20? yr old set. These sockets were show-chrome with black steel accent stripe. I caught a Snap-on truck at the Post Office and he grabbed one for me. It did not match at all and looked no different than the off-brand one that I was using temporarily. I think it was $15 w/tax.

I also bought some mint Snap-on sockets sets on ebay from a home handyman who barely used his tools and was relocating. I HAD hoped they were OLD Snap-ons... Wrong, these even had grind marks on the bases of a few sockets that were not polished out before plating. Nit-Picking?..Not when you figure in the price of these if you bought them new.
Oh my God if that isn't the truth, I picked up a wrench and it was full of scratches (prechrome) it looked like crap.

They are blowing it big time, they blew it when they started selling "Blue Point" cheaper tools and they are going further and further down hill. The stuff in that truck should be ART, it should be high priced art. Now, it is getting more and more like all the rest. Hell, the "rest" are getting more and more like SnapOn too! Have you looked at the quality of a "GearWrench"? Or a the high end Craftsmen tools? They are looking pretty nice.

What a shame. :nono:

Brian
 
#11 ·
schnitz said:
Big problem is most any retailer (be it the Costco/Target/ Matco guy) will tell you what you as a consumer wants to hear. Ultimately it is your job to do the research on what you are going to buy before you buy it. I think we've all been snookered into a purchase we've regretted later. I know I have.


In a while, Chet.
you wouldn't be talking about the 13 piece screwdriver set for 5.99, would you??? :D :D (no offence)
 
#13 ·
Arcuden said:
Whenever I see or hear complaints about "Made in China" and how crappy a product must be to have that designation, I consider that in China, everything is made in China! Things like the World Finance Center which is under construction and slated to be, I think, the second tallest skyscraper in the world. If they can make massively tall, delicate buildings that don't topple over from faulty "made in China" craftsmanship, why can't they make good tools?

Disclaimer: I'm playing devil's advocate here, I acknowledge that a lot of stuff imported from China is junk.

Tis true, but have you seen the pics of welding protection in china, scaffolding etc....We're talking about people that for the most part, until not many years ago, lived in thatch huts & farmed. (not that it was a bad lifestyle...) Look at the Three Gorges Dam & some of the issues there.
wait until the WFC is over 70 years old & get back to me on that one.

Disclaimer accepted :D
 
#14 ·
techron said:
you wouldn't be talking about the 13 piece screwdriver set for 5.99, would you??? :D :D (no offence)
Oh, that (but I had coupons so they were even cheaper-- but equally crappy), a certain '97 Silverado parked in my driveway, the first drill I owned, I could add more, but I won't...


In a while, Chet.
 
#17 ·
bigblockking21 said:
EXCEPT they said made in japan as wear on my pair they say snap on!!!!........could it be that snap on just stamps their name on a Chinese steel tool????...

Whats "Made in Japan" got to do with cheap Chinese junk? :confused: Look at Jap products, they are neither poorly made (Toyota, Sony, etc,) nor CHEAP!! Back in the 50's and early 60's Japan got the rep for making junk but that time has long since past and they have gone to great lengths to improve quality, "made in Japan" means quality not junk.
 
#18 ·
Which is probably the same that will happen to the Chinese "Junk"............

We westerners think of China and many other countries as backwards and primitive........Such is not the case anymore.......So much for 3rd world............. :confused:
 
#20 ·
How much of that quality makes it over here? Everything I have that proudly displays make in China has turned out to be junk. The screw driver set I got for Christmas was made in china and its going into the trash when the wife isn't looking. I would rather pay twice the price then have it snap off the first time you use it. I have already rounded off 2 of the Phillips heads.
 
#23 ·
poncho62 said:
First you say..."Made in Japan"........Then it's "Chinese steel".........

Which is it? They are 2 different countries................ .

It's an American thing... we have VP candidates that can't tell you the 3 countries that make up N. American, or that South Africa is a country with in the continent of Africa.

But, I digress... I registered in here just to say this, so sorry to revive an old thread, but I think it makes more sense than to make a new one since there is a lot of misinformation in here about Snap On and USA made.

99% of all Snap-On hand tools are made in the USA. Exceptions are rare, such as the electric screw driver, and the 4-piece adapter box for the SOEX (open end/ratcheting end) wrenches (which themselves are 100% US Made).

Blue Point is Snap-On's over seas made brand, most of which is made in Taiwan (not China), and some of which is indeed made in China, and other usually 3rd world countries.

As someone who tries his best to buy American made first, and when nothing of sufficient quality exists, German, UK, Italian, Japanese, etc.. substitutes, I can tell you that you can pretty much rest assured that if Snap On say's on the box it's made in the USA, it is. I strongly believe that if it weren't for the powerful influence of corporate lobbies (Walmart, etc), there would be no trade relationship with the Godless Communists in China.. but money talks and everything else walks.

Btw, I found in the pliers business, the Germans (Knipex) are king, and in the screw driver business, a good alternative to the great Snap-On's is Whia, also German.
 
#26 ·
Are Snap On tools made in China?

I've had no problems with my SnapOn stuff, but it's old,so probably made in the US. BUT,in the last 2 months, I've had 2 Craftsman drill bits break on me. These were both 1/2 in bits,(shanked) from the $99.00 Cobalt set. Last year my wife bought me the small set of Cobalt bits, and I decided I would"kick it up a notch" and go with the bigger set. No problems with any of them 'till I decided to use the 1/2 bit. It was in a press, working a flat piece of 18 ga. sheet metal, clamped down. I had been stepping up the hole sizes to get to 1/2". As soon as the bit contacted the material, a piece about 1/2" long went zinging off my face shield. I returned it to Sears and they replaced it. Yesterday, I ATTEMPTED to use the new one, and same ****. Took it back today, ( single bit lists for $16.99)THEY BEGRUDGINGLY REPLACED IT, after talking to 3 people and some asswipe kid tells me they aint warranted "cause theyre drill bits and break all the time." I politely explain to the lad that unless theyre being abused or used by a moron, drill bits don't "break all the time". I realize $16.99 is not a staggering figure, but I was told in no uncertain terms they wont replace any more of my bits.I have used the rest of the set with no problems, only with the 1/2". "Nuff said, I think I have visited Sears for the last time.
 
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