Electric vs Air Impact Wrenches

[xopher]

I've only used an air impact wrench on wheel lugnuts a handful of times and I've loved it every time. It seems like wired and cordless electric impact wrenches are becoming more prevalent. Does anyone use electric impact wrenches for lugnuts or other car work? Anyone have specific pros or cons on the two types?

[boatmangc]

I use Snap On Battery tools daily, they are awesome, But there are occasions when I still have to uncoil the air line.
Most of the time the battery tools are fine, certainly adequate for lugnuts on the MM

[Vortech347]

Air, always works.
Electric, batteries loose charge, break, ect..

I'd rather go by hand then spend the money for an electric impact.

[Spectragod]

I hand torque my wheels on all my cars, no tore up lugnuts, studs, wheels or warped rotors. I do have a trio, battery, electric, and air. All work well, some will work better on different jobs.

[yjmud]

The snap on is a bad ass
I still use air most of the time

[martyo]

I use Snap On Battery tools daily, they are awesome, But there are occasions when I still have to uncoil the air line.
Most of the time the battery tools are fine, certainly adequate for lugnuts on the MM

Yep.

Some of the 1/4" electric stuff really comes in handy when you are breaking things down.

[MOTOWN]

If i didnt have my air tools i would be like a blind man with no walking stick!

they are a bit hard on lug nuts, and wheel studs, i do those with a four way

[Raven34]

I have Snap-0n air impacts for at work and use a Matco Infinium lithium ion 1/2" drive electric cordless impact for work and home as well as a Blue point 3/8" electric cordless impact. I love the Matco 1/2" with 750 ft-lbs breakaway torque and 425 ft-lbs applied torque.

Very handy for me because I currently live in an apartment and don't have a place for an air compressor. Also handy for when I have to do field service jobs for work.

[BUCKWHEAT]

I got the cheapo & use it for taking off & putting on the lugnuts. Hand loosten them with a breaker bar & tighten with a torque wrench. Use the battery powered for the in-between work to speed it up.

[Da Dark Jedi]

Correct me if I'm wrong... To my limited understanding, the air wrench works better for those rusted suspension parts to bust them loose.

[massacre]

If you don't have the room or the proper place for compressed air, the corded electric or battery tools are a safe bet.

If I have to go on the road, I have a bottle of nitrogen with a regulator that I set to 100psi with an air fitting on it. I can use it for a while with my impact, lasts a good while. But I don't have to go on the road that much so it works for me.

But hand tighten/torque wrench on lug nuts all day long.

[EMAS]

I've got a electric Craftsman that is about 25 years old and it works great. The Snap-On dealer was pushing their 1/2" battery powered unit and was saying how it had so much power it could take truck lug nuts off. So we took him over to a International thousand series truck and said lets see if it can do these, not telling him that the recommended torque is 425-450 ft/lbs. It did not budge them. Of course the 1/2" air unit doesn't usually budge them either. Heck sometimes the 1" air won't do it and we break out the 5' foot cheater bar and 2 of us hang on it to get them loose.

None the less one of the other guys bought one and it's nice when stripping parts off of the trucks on the scrap line and we don't want to connect all the hoses together to reach over there.

[burt ragio]

Last fall after installing my winter wheels I felt it was long over due for something more efficent in terms of a wrench. Air tools were out of the question only because it would lead to a whole new set of tools. I started with a sears electric torque wrench found it heavy & didn't like draging around the cord. Then I got a small battary powered torque wrench good but no balls. I then steped up to Sears best lithium powered torque wrench 300 lbs tq. great investment.