Sometimes a long-lasting tool design can be improved. I think this is one of those.

I found these through EricTheCarGuy. The traditional adjustable wrench, or Crescent wrench, uses a worm gear to move one side of the jaws in or out. It’s a good space and money saver for DIY or emergency use, where you would otherwise need to carry a dozen wrenches or more, but it has its drawbacks. It’s slow to adjust, and it doesn’t hold the fastener very tightly, as the jaws can move slightly, which can cause you to round off the fastener head.

Both of these problems were solved with the Knipex Pliers Wrench. A push-button allows a quick adjustment of the size of the wrench, and the cam action design means that whenever you squeeze the handles, the wrench will be tightly squeezed against the fastener. The jaws will also always be parallel. Another feature caused by the cam action is you can turn the fastener, then release the pressure on the handles and turn the wrench like it was a ratchet, squeeze and turn again. You don’t have to take the wrench off every time you’ve turned the fastener a little bit and reposition.

I’ve had the 7-inch version for a while now, and just recently got the 12-inch. I’m looking forward to using the longer one on alignments, because I can feel my traditional adjustable wrench slipping.

The only downside I’ve found with this design is that you have to be able to hold two handles instead of one, so in tight spaces it may not be the best to use, but for most uses it’s worked great. Five lug nut rating from me.

At the time of writing this post, the 7-inch version is available for $48, and the 12-inch for $58, on Amazon.

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-Dan