how the fuck does this even happen

[Deacon]

Left in the car all year long? Then it just be the way metal normally acts with changing temperature metal doesn't play nice with seasons every time it goes from winter to summer the metal takes a beaten.

Or it could've been defected as in was defects in the mold causing the sockets to be doomed before it was even bought.

Anyways it could be for any reasons like something like when you used it in the winter some water got inside micro cracks then frozen and unfroze which makes cracks bigger once metal has become "compromised" its a pretty useless.

that would make sense but i live in las vegas, it doesn't change a whole lot around here. sometimes it gets cold enough...for water to freeze. sometimes.

[Lazer Blade]

that would make sense but i live in las vegas, it doesn't change a whole lot around here. sometimes it gets cold enough...for water to freeze. sometimes.

this stunts me i have no idea how it would have broke then.

[Shawn]

that would make sense but i live in las vegas, it doesn't change a whole lot around here. sometimes it gets cold enough...for water to freeze. sometimes.

or you used a/c  in summer (if your car has a/c)

[Deacon]

or you used a/c  in summer (if your car has a/c)

115 F....yeah, we use AC.

[Shawn]

115 F....yeah, we use AC.

That would cause the changing temperatures right there and if its really good could've cause water to freeze. But like i said once metal is compromised its pretty useless, metal isn't really reliable.

[Deacon]

yet consider that it was also in a pouch containing tools for the factory jack/tire iron. it would've been insulated.

[Osme]

but thats just my point; its not old, we live in an area with NO humidity, it was kept inside the car...
it shouldn't have any form of wear/tear, other than previous use

Sometimes metal is just weak from manufacturing and and easily break, and if it breaks, its usually a fairly impressive break.

[aerobro]

dat deacon face

[Tomcat]

The manufactures forged it wrong.

My past experience tells me that they only put it under heat once witch makes it brittle. They forgot to heat it up another time at a lower temp.

Trust me, I know shit tons of stuff about manufacturing. 

[Xrain]

Cheap junk tool made by the lowest bidder with poor quality control.

Most sockets are cold worked from blanks and pressed into shape, then as Tomcat says they then go through a heat-treatment process which makes them brittle, but also very hard (more brittle=more hard).

I don't think they anneal them to soften them again as the hardness of the socket is desired, as you want your tool to be harder than the bolt in most cases. (Though if it was an impact socket these are softer so when you use an impact driver they wont shatter and send metal splinters into your eyes.)

So my prognosis is a combination of:

- Low quality metal
- Manufacturing defect (Struck off center, giving it too thin of a sidewall on one side or something similar.)
- Poor design

Probably 95% of the time these sockets work fine for the light duty they are subjected to, rest of the time they break like yours did.


Just go buy a tire-iron from NAPA or CarQuest or what-have-you.

[Deacon]

This isn't a normal socket although those factors still contribute to the failure. After talking to the guys at the shops looking for new lug nuts (since these are now useless) it seems that you aren't supposed to use the shallow walled lug keys (which this is) with the impact drivers. Since we always have taken the wheels to a store and they use the key, chances are it was already too weak.