Tool Review: 12v Impact Wrench

AmDaMan · 21 Oct 2006 at 11:19

Right folks, this was a bargain at £23 from machine mart. It's the clarke CIR13C. There were other ones around that more or slighly less but were dodgy makes such as cosmic etc. According to the Auto express reviews it was the best bang for your buck but that was the 120ft/lb version, this updated version is 250 ft/lb.

The bloke at the shop said it would be no good for rusted bolts as it's only 20 quid and 12v, and you need one that cost £300+ for those... what a load of poo.

I was having problems with the strut top mounts as we all know they are a crap design on the clio and a lot of times the top of the struts have to be drilled if you want to adjust them in any way. I was having problems with mine and was worried I would have to drill them becuase it had already bent a few tools. A few seconds with this and they were off as you can see below. Don't let the plastic contruction fool you it's a very powerful tool indeed.

Just look at some of the bolts and nuts it got off, i couldn't believe it, even the throughly rusted ones, and the big one... the hub bolt which is torqued pretty damn tight and required a breakers bar and lots of force, took it off without breaking a sweat!! All from a 12v £20 tool it was awsome.

In conclusion i recommend you buy one as it's a bargain and you won't pull your hair out with rusty stuck nuts and bolts again!!! Plus it's only £20, I was only indending to use it for these bolts but now I'm going to use it for anything that gives me bother

milgo · 21 Oct 2006 at 11:27

nice one, might have a look at getting one of those. Got no room for a big old compressor.

Tesla · 21 Oct 2006 at 11:29

AmDaMan said:
I'm going to use it for anything that gives me bother

The misses, the kids, your boss?

AmDaMan · 21 Oct 2006 at 11:32

Tesla said:
The misses, the kids, your boss?

It will scare the misses, don't have kids or a boss

Tesla · 21 Oct 2006 at 11:35

AmDaMan said:
It will scare the misses, don't have kids or a boss

Teacher then.

Some teacher was attacked with a 950,000 VOLT stungun in Bristol the other day. You could be on the news, student attacks with 250lb/ft impact wrench, arghh!

Jonny69 · 21 Oct 2006 at 11:35

Raaaargh I'm really impressed!!!

I might have to get one of them myself

gobbo · 21 Oct 2006 at 12:05

Awsome buy, guessing your making some progress on the valver then?

moss · 21 Oct 2006 at 12:06

I use a cordless Sealey one, cost near £200 but has probably paid for itself the number of times its removed awkward nuts/bolts etc. For £20 that seems to do pretty much the same job.

Nathan · 21 Oct 2006 at 12:20

Nice review, i ll take a look at these. But dam, your car is in quite bad condition, even for a 10 year old+ hot hatch. Looks like it needs a whole front overhaul of suspension/steering related parts.

moss · 21 Oct 2006 at 12:23

Nathan said:
But dam, your car is in quite bad condition, even for a 10 year old+ hot hatch. Looks like it needs a whole front overhaul of suspension/steering related parts.

Most cars suspension looks pretty rusty/worn after 10years, quite often well before that.

Jonny69 · 21 Oct 2006 at 13:01

Nathan said:
Nice review, i ll take a look at these. But dam, your car is in quite bad condition, even for a 10 year old+ hot hatch. Looks like it needs a whole front overhaul of suspension/steering related parts.

Hahaha you should see the suspension on a 50 year old car then

*Actually it's not as bad because it's all slathered in grease

MuvverRussia · 21 Oct 2006 at 13:25

hmm. May well purchase one at £23- been looking at a dewalt for a ton or so or just getting a compressor and one for about the same.

One thing though- its worth using impact (black) sockets with them- bit safer as less chance of damaging the socket.

Nathan · 21 Oct 2006 at 14:07

moss said:
Most cars suspension looks pretty rusty/worn after 10years, quite often well before that.

Not if things have been replaced when they are needed. Surely the third picture down would be an MOT failure? I know mine failed on split droplinks...

Maybe I just like to keep my car in good shape :confused:

moss · 21 Oct 2006 at 15:07

Nathan said:
Not if things have been replaced when they are needed. Surely the third picture down would be an MOT failure?

Yeah the split ball joint would be a failure, I thought you meant the general rust.

AmDaMan · 21 Oct 2006 at 17:49

MuvverRussia said:
hmm. May well purchase one at £23- been looking at a dewalt for a ton or so or just getting a compressor and one for about the same.

One thing though- its worth using impact (black) sockets with them- bit safer as less chance of damaging the socket.

It is yeah unless you have good quality normal sockets - my smoos ones have held up fine, but a cheap socket I used cracked earlier. The black ones are shatterproof and designed for the high torque bursts.

Nathan - The car you see in the pictures was bought for £60, If I had a split balljoint on my daily driver it would be changed as you would notice a deterioration in steering and possibly some kind of knocking. But this car is just sat there so there's really no need.

ps gobbo: I'm taking the hubs and shocks off and swaping them with the 1.4 just doing what I can to prepare the 1.4 for the engine swap.. Fancy helping me swap the rear beam over?

Northwind · 21 Oct 2006 at 18:44

Only thing to watch for is that a properly stuck bolt's still going to shear off if you get blase about it... Bit of plus gas on a bad bolt or nut is a good idea no matter how you attack it IMO.

gobbo · 21 Oct 2006 at 18:48

Sure fella, pop us an e-mail over and i'm sure I can arrange something.

Getting clutch done end of this week (thurs/fri not sure which) so I'll have a full day free to help if needed?

AmDaMan · 21 Oct 2006 at 21:50

plus gas? Do you mean heat it up??

Gobbo, i'll let you know then as i bet theres quite a bit to do! Also we would need to put the 1.4 beam back on the valver to keep the valver rolling. Might need another set of axle stands too

gobbo · 21 Oct 2006 at 21:55

I've got a spare 2 tonne jack and a pair of axel stands if needed for a bit

Northwind · 21 Oct 2006 at 21:59

AmDaMan said:
plus gas? Do you mean heat it up??

Nah, Plus Gas is a very good penetrating oil. Like WD40, only it works

Tool Review: 12v Impact Wrench

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