Best MIG Welding Wire – 2022 Reviews and Top Picks

Users have a lot of good things to say about the INEFIL ER70S-6. There’s lots of praise from pro welders for great feed performance, good wetting and superior bead appearance, making for a lot less labor getting it pretty after you’re done welding. Welders praised this wire for its light coating of copper, which protects the wire from rusting, lubricates the feed performance and doesn’t flake off like thicker coating does.

The only thing that’s a drawback over the Lincoln wire is that the Inefil wire is made in Europe to EU standards, meaning if you’re doing government contract work, it won’t meet Buy America standards. However, this is a very high quality wire, and if you don’t have to demonstrate military or other safety certification or prove it originates in North America it will likely perform as well as any other wire on the market, probably better.

Inefil rates this wire for an 80 percent argon/20 percent CO2 mix, but the American Inefil representative says it also works great with 75 percent AR/25 percent CO2, which can save a little money on the gas bottles.

We selected Lincoln SuperArc as our Pro Choice because it’s the most-used wire in the welding industry for mission-critical applications. When the work needs to meet military standards or Lloyd’s Registry shipbuilding requirements, Lincoln SuperArc is the most-chosen wire. NASCAR, Formula 1 and NHRA racing teams use Lincoln wire to build safety cages and it’s also the choice of roller coaster and thrill ride manufacturers.

What is the difference with this wire? It’s not that it’s actually of better quality. The difference is the level of process monitoring to ensure it meets extremely stringent standards like these.

For tasks like fixing washing machines or gate hinges, it’s not a big deal if your wire doesn’t meet Buy America standards or won’t satisfy the Lloyd’s Registry standards for tensile strength.

However, if you’re welding on a trailer tongue, suspension components or building a roll cage, you might appreciate the knowledge that this wire is certified and inspected for applications where safety is the top priority.

Many professionals also feel that this wire feeds the best and enables them to make the highest use of their hard-earned skills.

Boulder, Colorado’s YesWelder is gaining a following among American welders with Hong Kong-sourced welders and equipment. Originally a supplier of third-party products, in 2018 it was sold and began directly sourcing its own helmets and welders from Hong Kong. Recently YesWelder started offering consumables, and it’s getting good reviews from US welders for the quality of its MIG welding wire.

This wire has a reputation for good feeding. Thin copper coating protects the wire from rust and helps smooth feeding through the torch liner. Users often comment on consistent quality through the entire spool, welding as well as more expensive American brands.

If you don’t need to meet military, government, racing body or marine requirements for certified processes, YesWelder wire will probably work fine for anything you need to do with a MIG welder.

We found no reports of spattering problems, crushed wire or inconsistent diameter along the length of the spool. Users report plenty of penetration and good strength in their welds and the material seems to be of good quality. Yeswelder has good marks for customer service from buyers.

We decided it was appropriate to include at least one choice of aluminum wire for those wanting to weld aluminum but finding information scarce.

This is just about the best aluminum wire going. Most professionals prefer Hobart wire when it comes to welding aluminum. Hobart aluminum wires are heavily favored in marine welding because they’re very resistant to salt water corrosion.

This particular wire is 5356 alloy, the most versatile for welding 5000 series aluminum. Something with a little less silicon may provide a better wetting action for prettier beads, but 5356 has excellent shear strength for items like truck bumpers and tool boxes.

If you’re doing 6015, use 4043 wire for excellent results on high strength items like motorcycle handlebars, ski boat towers and that type of application.

You don’t want to chemically contaminate aluminum equipment with copper coating from steel wire, so you need to change the liner in the torch lead and use a spool gun to shorten the electrode distance. Change the torch tip and shield to clean items. Use separate clamps, brushes and other tools.

Harris is a Lincoln Electric brand, suggesting that quality should be good because Lincoln has an industry-leading reputation to worry about.

However, if you need to meet US or European government or military standards it won’t qualify because it’s Chinese made. The same holds true when welding on marine vessels inspected under the Lloyd’s Registry.

That’s not to say the wire itself is of lesser quality, just that it isn’t certified to meet certain particular legally mandated inspection standards. That’s one reason it’s cheaper than highly inspected wires at the high end of the market.

Users overwhelmingly report good results with both welding and feeding from this wire. Many welders are very satisfied with its low spatter rate, especially at lower current settings with 100 percent CO2 versus a 75 percent argon/25 percent CO2 mix.

This wire does meet AWS standards for ER70S-6 quantities of silicon and manganese deoxidizing compounds. Users report great results on contamination like light rust or moderate mill scale.

This is a good, inexpensive alternative for repairing things like fencing, engine brackets and machinery.