Been looking at the cheapish (around £50) impact wrenches available to buy. I would only be using one occasionally for diy use. Does anyone own one or have any experience of using one?

 

Just wondering if they are up to the job of removing stubborn bolts on suspensions etc.

 

Any advice welcome guys.

Thanks

Buy a decent one or don't bother at all. I've had cheap ones and they haven't been worth the bother of getting them out of the box.

 

I recently bought a Dewalt 18V DCF899 and that thing will take off more or less anything on a car, I don't know why I have bothered with cheap ones in the past. its only a cheap tool on its own but I already had batteries from all my other gear.

 

Most of the mains powered ones are rubbish and too bulky, pneumatic ones can be powerful but you need a decent sized compressor reservoir and 3/8 hose minimum and battery powered ones are expensive due to having to buy the batteries so you can't really get one on a budget that is going to be good enough to take off anything you throw at it, and if you have to start slackening things off first with a breaker bar then whats the point in having one.

Edited 25 September, 20169 yr by SuperbTWM

I have a mains powered one from Clas Ohlson in Manchester. I bought it get off some towball bolts that had been on 15 years and were covered in black paint. I could not shift them with my extensive toolkit but the impact wrench made short work of them. The nuts were very hot when they came off. If you do buy one make sure that you use hex, not bi-hex, sockets that are designed for impct wrenches. I cannot comment on it's durability as I have only had cause to use it the once.

I bought a 12v car 'power socket' powered one from Lidl last year and it easily managed to remove 4 wheel nuts on my new R when I changed over to winter wheels - I could not move those 4 even with an extension on my normal spider wheel nut remover. If I remember it was only about £30 and has adjustable torque both ways and digital display, lead was long enough to reach the rear wheels easily

I have a mains powered Draper thing - It's a beast - 400 lb/ft rating or something daft like that.  Makes short work of most stubborn bolts.

My brother's got one of the slightly more expensive 24v Sealey cordless ones (think it was about £100-£150). He uses it everyday on cars and big vans. Apart from wearing a battery out, he loves it. 

I have  a SIP 12 v   approx £20 still going after 12-15 years  loosens light commercial stuff no trouble 

Thanks for the replies guys. Been watching a few youtube vids and the cheaper electric ones do seem to struggle with things like hub nuts and wheel nuts. I didn't want to go down the battery powered route as I wouldn't use it enough and the batteries are expensive to buy. I believe if they are standing, even fully charged for long periods without use the batteries start to fail.

 

I will have to take a chance on a good electric brand name one and up the budget a bit if its to do what I want.

Been thinking of something like this myself for some time.

I also want to avoid battery power due to cost and infrequent use wearing the batteries.

Also would like to avoid mains powered to be able to use it away from home should I need to.

I bought a 12v car 'power socket' powered one from Lidl last year and it easily managed to remove 4 wheel nuts on my new R when I changed over to winter wheels - I could not move those 4 even with an extension on my normal spider wheel nut remover. If I remember it was only about £30 and has adjustable torque both ways and digital display, lead was long enough to reach the rear wheels easily

Is it similar to this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Liftmaster-12V-Impact-Wrench-with-Digital-Display-Torque-Configuration-/141679491955?hash=item20fcc17b73:g:H4UAAOSwq7JT~Zgr

80nm to 350nm is a reasonable range and should be enough to get most stubborn bolts off.

The one I have is a different make and has a 120w motor not the 96w in that one.  The lidl one also looks more substantial and comes with a set of impact sockets but has a similar range.

 

This looks very similar to mine

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpin-72534-Digital-Setting-Practical/dp/B00CHYT3ZA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1475057671&sr=8-9&keywords=12v+impact+wrench

Edited 28 September, 20169 yr by octavia5

I have a 400nm electric Nielsen one off eBay that was about £75.

It sees off most things with little effort.

I also have a 1200nm pneumatic ingersol rand one that breaks knuckles...

Having now watched quite a few youtube vids the better quality electric ones do appear upto the job if you don't have access to an air compressor and don't want to go down the battery route.

Snap on used to make an unbelievably good one that never failed me, it was about £500 though...

This month's Car Mechanic did a test on these, but maybe only the battery ones, I must agree that for the occasional DIYer, having a battery powered one probably is a waste - unless, as suggested, you have brand loyalty and share the common batteries with other power tools.  For, me, a nice thought, but I will try to live with my big long breaker bars as the price to get what is said to be a good one worries me who likes to spend too much on "nice" things!

 

I have bought Nielsen stuff in the past and it has worked for me as a DIYer while saving lots of money (track rod wrenches).