Over the past few days I have learned that while it may not be imperative to have the absolute best of every tool it is still important to have the right tools and tools of passable quality.
Two days ago I got parts to change the spark plugs on my car (yay, new skill to learn!). Not knowing I already had a spark plug socket in my generic ratchet set I purchased one along with the other necessary items, though somehow I remembered that I had an extension arm for the ratchet. I got home, waited for the engine to cool, and started to take off the retainer bolts for the coil packs (my car doesn't use traditional spark plug wires). Try as I might I could not get any of the bolts off. It actually got so bad that my 10mm socket got stripped. You read that right- bolt had not a scratch on it and the socket got badly damaged. At this point I pretty much give up on it for the night and decide to get some different tools the next day.
I went by the hardware store after work the next day and got a new 10mm socket and a small breaker bar. I figured the bolts were probably rusted in or something so I expected a real fight to get them loosened. Nope, with the breaker bar's ability to not force a 90 degree angle while turning I'm able to get a solid grip on the bolt with room to turn it, and by the feel of it I didn't even need to do it with the engine still hot. All four were cake to get off and no damage to either the socket or the bolt.
I waited a few hours and began replacing the first spark plug using the new spark plug socket. At this point I'd found that the space back there was so tight I could only really do anything with the breaker bar- I'm sure I'll use the torque wrench I grabbed some time or another though. After I got the socket attached to the old spark plug I realized I wasn't sure how easy it would be to remove the socket once I put the new one in. I pulled and fond that the extension had no grip and pulled away from the socket WAY more easily than the socket pulled away from the spark plug. I got a bit nervous at that point until I remembered that I still had the other spark plug socket and if the extension bar was rubbish there's a good chance the socket was rubbish too! After I got the old plug out and detached from the new socket I tested it out against the other socket. Sure enough the thing was so poorly built that the rubber ring separated from the socket and got stuck on the spark plug as I tried to pull it out. Didn't really have much of a choice in the matter so I left the ring out and used the rubbish socket (as I started calling it) to put in the new spark plugs, while getting out the old ones with the new one.
Probably not prime situation for the new plugs to slide into place, but nothing got damaged or cross threaded and this morning the engine is running better than I've felt it in quite some time. In hind sight I should have probably known the quality of my tools considering the large ratchet got completely destroyed last time I tried changing the rotors, but I'm glad to know now at least to be on the look out for some tools that aren't made out of tin foil.