Spec me an Impact driver

andicole0

andicole0

andicole0

Soldato
Joined
12 Sep 2005
Posts
6,497
Location
Grundisburgh
Looking for an impact driver to remove and replace wheel bolts, preferably portable (battery - I have some 18V 4Ah Bosch batteries). I'm worried that I see 1/4" drives and some with no ability to limit torque when tightening.
Any recommendations?
Cheers.
Andi.
 
I always use a torque wrench to do up wheel bolts, and especially now I've applied a tiny amount of grease to the bolts and hub face, you can easily undo them with a wheel brace with no issues..

I have the clarke CEW1000 (450nm Mains powered impact driver for £58) which is for the occasions I come across something I need undoing with more force.. but that is very rarely used, if you torque things correctly in the first place they generally undo fairly easily.
 
Demon said:
I always use a torque wrench to do up wheel bolts, and especially now I've applied a tiny amount of grease to the bolts and hub face, you can easily undo them with a wheel brace with no issues..

I have the clarke CEW1000 (450nm Mains powered impact driver for £58) which is for the occasions I come across something I need undoing with more force.. but that is very rarely used, if you torque things correctly in the first place they generally undo fairly easily.
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CEW1000 is pretty handy as the mains power gives it a lot of punch.

I've got an old Clarke CIR450 as well (supposedly 450nm) but it won't remove some stuff the cheaper mains powered ones can do - infinitely more usable though as it's cordless.

My next shopping spree is for the Ryobi Impact Wrench with a 4 or 5AH battery
 
I have the bosch gds18 v-li but i always crack my nuts with a breaker bar first as it does struggle sometimes,
 
Have just bought a Milwaukee M18FIWF12-502X FUEL 1/2 inch Impact, not exactly cheap but it came with a charger and two 5AH batteries along with a carry case. Imo you want to go with 1/2 drive for anything automotive. If you have the batteries then go for something Bosch, its good enough quality for odd jobs and will save you a lot not having to buy batteries if they fit.

If you are undoing anything substantial like driveshaft's or rusted on nuts etc then I would go with a Makita / DeWalt or Milwaukee with a good torque rating. It mainly comes down to a good torque rating.
 
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jellybeard999 said:
If you've got bosch kit already, stick with it IMO

https://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Bosch-Gds18Vli-3165140508322-18V-Impact-Wrench-Bare-Unit

My understanding is that they shouldn't be used for tightening, only loosening, as it's too easy to overtorque, in the same way you shouldn't use a breaker bar to tighten... but maybe I'm wrong?
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Basically that's the common rule, garages don't care however, they just wham stuff on all day with them. Have seen a few wheel studs destroyed by idiots putting wheel nuts on with them and not doing them by hand 1st and just cross threading and jamming the nut on.
Some now have 4 modes, the one I have just bought has:
Mode 1: For precision work.
-Mode 2: Helps prevent damage to fasteners and material.
-Mode 3: Delivers maximum performance for the toughest applications.
-Mode 4: Intelligently detects when the tool has impacted on a fastener for one second automatically shutting the tool down, reducing overdriving and damaging materials.

Mode 4: No Load Speed: 0-2,000/min, Impact Rate: 0-2,600, Torque: 0-120Nm.

Torque: 40/120/300Nm.
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