40pc Metric Tap & Die Set

When installing one of the rear toe arms into the knuckle using the bolt in the picture with the triangular washer, tragedy struck. This was the last side, so I was in the home stretch for this (terrible) job. I say terrible because the eccentric alignment bolts get SUPER seized in the toe arms here in the rust belt, requiring a ton of effort to remove said arms, and obviously new alignment bolts from the dealer as well. Both old toe arms still have part of the bolt fused to the inner metal sleeve of the bushing.Anyways, when installing this bolt into the threaded hole in the rear knuckle/hub assembly, I noticed there was a lot of lateral pressure on the bolt. Foolish me, I decided to just use my impact to zip it on to get it started. However, when tightening it with my 1/2” ratcheting wrench, I noticed the effort to screw in the bolt was WAY too high, and the bolt hadn’t even bottomed out yet. Luckily, I did the smart thing and stopped, then backed the bolt out and tightened alternatively, yet the difficulty/high torque required to tighten remained. So now alarm bells are going off in my head 🚨.I calmed down and thought that if I’m going to have to put lateral pressure on a bolt, I should do it on the other side of the toe arm, where the eccentric alignment bolt is. I later found out that this was an extremely good idea because the eccentric bolt (long thin one on the top left of the attached picture) was only threaded at the bottom 1/3. The unthreaded “shank” of the bolt is actually much better at dealing with lateral forces because the lack of threads means it is stronger, or something like that. Also, since there are no threads to turn, the high lateral force on the bolt shouldn’t affect the threads on that side. You can just turn the nut onto the bolt.I then removed both bolts completely, and started to thread on the threaded bolt with triangular washer to the knuckle (bottom bolts in the attached pic). But alas, my luck 🍀 was not to be on this cold, hard, long winter day, in my (thankfully) heated garage. The bolt would periodically become very difficult to thread in. So, eventually I was uncomfortable with the amount of force required to continue threading the bolt into the knuckle and stopped again, and removed both bolts completely to uninstall the (rear) toe arm completely.I figured out what happened was the lateral pressure along with me trying to forcefully thread in the bolt resulted in a phenomenon known as “galling” to occur. You can look it up, but essentially material transferred onto the threads, making a few threads too thick I believe. It was very difficult to see with my eyes, but I could easily feel it when tightening the bolt.I then figured My next best bet was to try to repair the threads, and I needed a 12x1.5mm tap and die, or thread chaser and die. This set was one of the few with the correct size, and it was cheap considering I would probably only use it once (at least I hope so) in my life.That’s where this set finally comes in to this review. I used a lot of lubrication and slowly “chased” the female threads in the rear hub assembly, as well as the male threads of the bolt itself with the tap and die respectively. I could feel the resistance at 2 or 3 points in the process, but when I was finally done, the bolt threaded into the knuckle super easily by hand. I then FINALLY and LUCKILY installed the hub/knuckle side of the toe arm by threading/installing this pesky triangular washer bolt into the hub. It went super smoothly this time. Of course. Crisis averted.I then spent way too long slowly forcing the eccentric bolt through the rear subframe and through the toe arm, which was difficult due to the lack of space and the lateral force making it very hard to push the long bolt all the way through. I eventually got it fully seated after maybe 20 minutes. I then installed the eccentric washer and nut, and went to get an alignment. The end.

I only bought this kit to clean dirty threads, not to repair threads or make new threads, but it couldn't even clean dirt out of threads. The Tap was almost half decent but the Die and it's holder were soft and terrible. Got the Die about 2-2.5 threads in and it jammed, and the holder was too soft to hold the set screw, had to use channel locks to get both off, but ran a nut along the whole length (~5cm/~2") and there were no issues so obviously the die was the problem.I am returning the set.

Great entry level tap and die set. A great set to have on hand just in case but don't expect performance from it.I needed to thread 50 holes in mild steel and wore a specific tap out after 17 holes. The replacement tap from a local industrial supply finished the job easily. Same procedure and cutting fluid used with both taps.W4002DB Tap was about $1.15 (including taxes and delivery)Replacement Tap was $7.89 (including taxes) and I had to pick it up.

Came in two days as advertised. Has all the parts as advertised. Its just made with inferior materials.The T-Bar wrench for the taps is pretty flimsy and comes loose very easily. Not sure it would stand up to any serious use.The main issue is the quality of some of the components. One tap in the set was completely shot when I first opened the case. Its like the blank had been crushed or mangled before the threads were cut into it, so its a complete mess.I guess the set will be OK for occasional use, or clearing out existing threads, but if you plan any serious use I would spend a little more on a Snap-On, Irwin or better set.Very disappointing.

Husband is a heavy duty mechanic and I got him this for Christmas . So far it has saved him hours of replacing bolts - definitely Recommend to that lady who doesn’t know what to get her hubby😂His reviews:Great quality for the priceGet both metric and SAEEasy to useHelpful for tough bolts that snap