The Best Lug Wrenches (Review & Buying Guide) in 2023 | Autance

Some of the best lug wrench designs employ a collapsible design, and that is exactly what we have in this product from CARTMAN. In its closed form it measures a tiny 13 inches, but it can extend out to 21 inches when you need to use it. Along with the handy (and protective) storage bag, this tire wrench is easy to store in a vehicle but still can give the length to provide the leverage you need to tackle stubborn bolts. 

The only small issue is with the sockets that come with this wrench. You do get four of them in the most common used sizes, but they are not quite as deep as you will find with some other models. It probably won’t make a huge difference to the use of the wrench but is something to keep in mind.

Next we have this design from Powerbuilt. It is of the traditional, cross style of lug wrenches, a design we will see more than once as we move through the list. As for price, this particular one is toward the top end of the mid-range when it comes to four-way tire iron designs.

For that money you get a nice and solid design. It is chrome plated and highly polished, so you get a very attractive shiny surface that is very resistant to rust and water damage. For a tool that could be stored in the trunk for prolonged periods without being used, that’s useful to see. You get your standard four socket sizes, so you should have everything you need to tackle most automotive jobs.

The arms are a little thin and have no padding or protection. If you are extorting a lot of pressure on a stubborn nut you could find those skinny arms biting into your palms a little. We looked at the 20” option, but it is also available in a 14” (easier storage, less leverage) and a 25” for extra leverage for really stubborn bolts and nuts. All in all, it is a very useful, well-designed and simple tool.

If we were going to trust any mammal to build top-quality vehicular tools, it would probably be a gorilla. So we were pleased to come across this item, a telescoping lug wrench from Gorilla Automotive.

Again, this design is ideal for in-car storage. It is great to see this product shrink down to 14 inches, and it weighs less than three pounds. It really is nice and small. It has a double-sided socket design too, so you only have to find space to store two sockets.

At the same time, it boasts a tough construction of hardened steel and also extends to 21 inches. That is a level of toughness and length that should provide the strength and durability to tackle a range of nuts of various tightening levels. It is certainly not the cheapest lug wrench on the market – it is in fact one of the more expensive. But you get a very well-designed, very tough tool for your money.

Our next product is this four-way lug wrench from GTE Tools. A couple of notes right up front, though. First, this is certainly a premium product with the premium price tag to match. It is also a very well-designed little tool with a number of useful features.

The most useful has to be the fact that the tool collapses. It doesn’t go into itself like one of the extending versions, rather the central section unscrews and can be stored inside the other handle. You can keep it stored in its handy storage bag. It is still a pretty large tool at 26” long. But it’s easier to store then when in its assembled size.

It comes with the usual socket sizes plus a universal adaptor that you can attach to bits from a multi-tool. That is a very handy feature you don’t see on to many lug wrenches. As you would expect from this price point, the tool is well made of hardened steel so it has the toughness and durability to tackle a range of jobs.

It is going to put a dent in the bank balance for sure, but this premium tool certainly has the design features to justify the expenditure.

The next tool to make the list comes from a company called Performance Tool, so lets hope it lives up to its name. Here’s another lug wrench with mobility and ease of storage at the heart of the design. As you will see it has gone a slightly different route.

This product has two folding arms that extend to provide leverage when tackling lug nuts. They fold back into the side of the tool for ease of storage. It’s also worth pointing out that the tool is one of the smallest and lightest on the list, weighing in at only 1.7 pounds.

On the one hand that makes it very easy to store in a vehicle – you could find room in even the smallest compact car for this tiny tool. On the other hand it may not have the heft to regularly tackle well-tightened nuts. In particular, the hinged arm attachments have to bear a lot weight, and they may not live up to daily use. As a lug wrench to store in the vehicle for emergencies though it is lightweight, easy to use, easy to store, and relatively cheap.

Don’t buy this for your garage then, but certainly consider it as an investment to upgrade your roadside repair kit stored in the car.

Cartman is back with its second entry to make the list. A far more traditional and straightforward design than what we saw before, what we have here is a nice and simple four-way lug wrench.

That being said, Cartman has gone the extra mile to add a few extra useful features. The big standout is the anti-slip protection. In reality these are merely plastic sleeves inserted over the four arms of the wrench. While being a very simple addition, they are also very effective, adding more grip and surface area for a tool that is easier to hold and use. It is also good to see that chrome plating has been employed in the finish to protect against rust and corrosion.

A 16” arm span is definitely toward the smaller end when it comes to these types of tools. That does make it easy to store and easy to work with in confined spaces. It also means that it takes more effort on your part to generate the leverage required to tackle really stubborn lug nuts.

Regular Car Autance readers – which we assume is all of you, right? – are used to seeing products from EPAuto show up on our lists. It makes simple but effective automotive tools, so you can pretty much expect what’s coming next.

This lug wrench, from EPAuto, is both simple and effective. We’ll give you a moment to come to terms with that revelation. All jokes aside, this is a very solid little tool, which is well made and extremely tough. It comes with the four standard socket sizes you expect, and it is also chrome plated for rust and corrosion protection. It also has a low price tag, so it’s very good value for the money.

Notice how we said it is a little tool? Well, we weren’t being cute. With an arm length of just 14” this is easily the smallest wrench – whether collapsible or a four-way lug wrench – to make the list. It is easy to store, whether in the garage or the trunk. On the other hand, it will be harder to generate the top levels of torque required to undo really tough lug nuts with this tool. 

Cartman is back with its third entry to the list. It is by far the most simple of its designs that we looked at, but it still packs the Cartman name as a badge of quality construction.

You can actually re-read the entry for the product above from EPAuto and simply replace its company name with Cartman. This is a short four-way lug wrench with a 14” span. So the same pros and cons apply here as with the product above. It is even a similar price.

The one big difference comes in its construction materials. This lug wrench is made of heat-treated carbon steel. We don’t need to tell you that this is a very tough material. Add in the chrome plating and you have a very simple but very strong and long-lasting tool that should give years of hassle-free service.

The penultimate tire wrench to make the list is this useful little tool from Dorman. We are back to the extending style of lug wrench, and this is certainly an effective, if somewhat simple, example of that design.

It collapses to 15” for easy storage and extends out to around 21” to provide extra leverage when tackling tougher lug nuts. It comes bundled with a pair of double-sided sockets of standard size. The double-sided sockets do keep down the space the tool occupies, although it’s a shame there is no free storage bag with this tool. The handle is nice and comfortable and deeply etched to provide a good grip. That is certainly useful when changing a tire at the roadside on a winter’s night.

All in all though it is a pretty simple design. There is, for example, no locking mechanism for the extending arm. That’s not exactly a deal breaker but it does mean this tool is not quite as easy to use as some other folding designs we’ve looked at on this list.

The final tool is this four-way tire iron from OEMTOOLS. If there is one thing we are sure about this tool, it is the fact it is very, very green. That paint does help to make the tool nice and visible, and you probably won’t misplace it in even the messiest garage. On the other hand, the color scheme is probably not going to be for everyone.

Aside from the color scheme there is a lot to like. This cross wrench has 20” arms, far longer than the standard 14” we’ve seen so far. That’s going to make it easy to generate lots of torque to tackle rusted or stubborn bolts. The construction features heat-treated carbon steel for a tough and resilient tool. The sockets are universal size and also quite deep.

This is a premium level lug wrench and certainly one of the top cross wrench designs we’ve looked at. It costs a little more than the standard cross wrench but is not earth shatteringly high. Whether you like the color or not will be a personal preference, but underneath it is a very well made lug wrench.