Cordless Impact Driver for a Car

[johnny means]

You could correctly torque your lug nuts in your driveway. Then all you would need is the jack and wrench they came with the car. I wouldn't want to be dependent on any electrical gadget in a pinch.

[John Lankers]

I used to change 60 shanks on my air drill in the field with an 800 watt inverter and an old DeWalt 110 Volt impact wrench (engine running of course).

[Jim Dwight]

When I couldn't get my lug nuts loose with my 18V impact that is limited to about 200 ft. lbs I took it back partically because I was worried about breaking them. I could have put a long pipe on my breaker bar but that would have risked snapping the bolts. Lots of leverage isn't always the right way to go.

I agree with the checking them post. I try to rotate my tires when I change oil (every 5K miles) and that's where I caught the fact that they were too tight. So I was at risk for awhile but caught it before I had to.

My convertible doesn't have a spare so I carry a compressor and a plugging kit. All my flats in 40+ years driving have been slow leaks that a compressor would temporarily resolve. A good 12V compressor is about $50 (I like Viair). I would carry it long before I would carry a 12V impact wrench.

[peter gagliardi]

Another thought that would help. I have for about the last 25 or so years been putting copper "never seize" on my lug nut threads, AND the small cone area at the front of the lug nut that actually centers and clamps the rim . I put em on pretty tight, never, ever have I broke one, or even needed to break a sweat getting them off by hand with a normal wrench. A little lubrication amplifies the clamping force , so you don't need to crank them uber tight when you reinstall, so be mindful.

[Mark Levitski]

Never seize on studs is a no-no according to the tire shop.

[peter gagliardi]

Yep, but they are more than happy to hand you the bill for the labor + the broken parts. Some people always do as they've always done, well because... They've always done it!
I've done more than my share of wrenching to know what works and what don't. Everyone is free to choose their own path.

[John Sanford]

Keep a 1500 watt power inverter in the trunk and a corded impact wrench. It's not the cheapest option, but it's as close to bulletproof as you can get without having an immortal trunk monkey with a 36" breaker bar. Just make sure you've tested/practiced with the setup <b>before</b> you need it.

[Rick Potter]

Keeping up the AAA card is cheaper than a good impact wrench. Price out the nice one at SnapOn.

[J.R. Rutter]

That 18v Milwaukee was a game changer for me when it comes to cars. I have not found a nut or bolt that it won't break loose, including subframe and axle bolts. If you are not inclined to wrench on cars, then it is expensive. But if you do, it will pay for itself after a couple of jobs. For wheel lugs, the low torque setting gets mine to the point where a half turn with the torque wrench gets them to spec. I didn't realize that they had a 12v car charger for it, so I will be ordering that for when I go to the track. I have a breaker bar in the trunk for emergencies though.

[Jerry Thompson]

+1 on the long torque wrench. It has always been my part of any tire shop tire removal to re-torque the nuts/bolts after driving about 50 miles. On many cars the rotors can warp if the nuts/bolts are not torqued to the proper setting. This is especially true if one has to hard break and the rotors heat up.

[Tim Offutt]

Never seize on studs is a no-no according to the tire shop.

The reason it is a no-no is because the never seize acts as a thread lubricant. Any time you are torqueing a fastener the majority of the torque applied is consumed by friction, in the threads and under the bolt or nut. A very small portion of the actual torque or rotational force applied is used to stretch the fastener and provide the clamp needed to hold the assembly together. Tension or stretch in the fastener is what holds the joint together, unless you have lock nuts or loctight.

When you introduce any lubricant, (never seize, oil, even water) the torque needed to overcome friction is reduced and the bolt stretch and/or clamp load is increased. It only takes a small amount of lubricant to allow the recommended torque to stretch the fastener to failure causing it to break. Or worse, the bolt will stretch beyond the yield point and it will break later under load.

The factories spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment to properly tighten wheel lugs, which is what I sell. Unfortunately there are tire shops that still do not properly torque wheel lugs and think that tighter is better.