Impact wrenches do a great job of tightening and loosening bolts, lug nuts and rusted fasteners. They provide a very high rotational torque that regular drills are simply not capable of and deliver high torque output with minimal exertion by the user.
They are typically used in the automotive and construction industry, though are loved across many other trades where a high torque output is needed. Torque is the amount of force required to make something move.
Fact - Did you know that impact wrenches are used in Grand Prix races to change wheels during pit stops?
The impact wrench replaces your ratchet wrench or breaker bar, highly increasing your productivity and making tightening and loosening nuts and bolts a much quicker and easier process. They get their immense torque from a hammering mechanism in the motor that delivers extremely strong and quick concussive blows. This creates a huge amount of force which enables them to loosen even the toughest nuts and bolts.
The motor applies a continuous sudden twisting motion to the nut or bolt, usually in short bursts, and this will eventually bring movement (loosening or tightening) to the bolt.
They are used in applications where a much greater force is required such as when the nut may not break loose, or a hand wrench wont do the job. The most common use for impact wrenches is to change car tyres. They are most commonly air powered or battery powered, both of which you can shop at Toolstop.
When used properly, there is no lug nut - no matter how tight - that an impact wrench can't budge.
Impact wrenches are available in every standard socket drive size. 3/4" and 1" drives offer you the most power for industrial scale jobs, though 1/2" is usually the most common. Impact wrenches are very powerful tools. They pack a punch and the force they use is measured in ft.
lbs (foot-pounds).
The higher the torque specification on your model, the more force it can apply to the fastener.
They aren't typically used for standard home renovations and DIY, but more for professional trade use. Use them with impact sockets that suit the drive of your tool.
Tip: Dont rely solely on you impact wrench. For torque sensitive fasteners such as wheel nuts, you should opt for your torque wrench to apply the final tension to these jobs. You can find out all about torque wrenches in our exclusive guide.
Air impact wrenches are more suited to workshop use as it's unlikely you will have access to an air compressor on the move. Battery powered models these days are just as powerful.
Impact wrenches are not to be confused with impact drivers.
The impact wrench is a fastening tool which uses a square drive that you can attach sockets to in order to tighten and loosen bolts.
The impact driver is a screwdriving specialist that has a 1/4" hex collet that accepts 1/4" hex shank bits. It is typically used to drive long screws and bolts. They are much more efficient at driving screws than standard drill drivers.
For any high torque situation, you should opt for an impact wrench.
We have listed below some main features to look out for when choosing an impact wrench. Of course, the features you go for depends on the applications you will be carrying out.
Now that we know how an impact driver works, what they are used for and some top features to look out for, take a look at our top picks:
Dewalt DCF899 18V Impact Wrench
Makita DTW300Z 18V Impact Wrench
Bosch GDS 18V-300 Impact Wrench
The DCF899 is one of Dewalt's most popular impact wrenches.
Top Features:
Specification:
Find out more and shop now.
The Makita DTW300 18V LXT brushless 1/2" impact wrench is ideal for engineers and mechanics.
Top Features:
Specification:
Find out more and shop now.
The Bosch GDS 18V-300 brushless impact wrench is ideal for use by trade professionals.
Top Features:
Specification:
Find out more and shop now.
There are many types of impact wrenches available on the market; air impact wrenches, cordless impact wrenches and corded impact wrenches. Shop all of these and more at Toolstop.
Impact drivers and impact wrenches are two important tools that can make your life considerably easier. Based on their names alone, it’s easy to think they’re essentially the same tool. While they’re capable of doing some similar tasks, they are definitely different tools meant to handle fastening jobs in different ways.
Read on to find out how these two power tools stack up against each other.
Table Of Contents
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| Criteria | Impact Driver | Impact Wrench |
|---|---|---|
| Power Source | Electricity (corded and cordless) | Compressed Air, Electricity (corded and cordless) |
| Output Force | Higher RPM, Lower Torque | Higher Torque, Slower RPM |
| Impact Force | Rotational and Axial Directional Force | Rotational Directional Force |
| Bit/Socket Connection | 1/4″ Hex Socket | 3/8″, 1/2″, 3/4″ Square Shaft |
| Uses | Light Duty Assembly, Driving Screws, Drilling | Heavy Duty Assembly, Loosen/Tighten Lug Nuts, Loosen/Tighten Large Bolts and Nuts |
An impact wrench is a powerful tool that produces high torque output with minimum effort by the person using it.
Energy is stored in a rotating mass and then delivered suddenly to the output shaft to deliver the high torque. Compressed air is the most common source of power for an impact wrench, but battery-operated cordless versions are also available. You can use impact wrenches to tighten or remove bolts, screws, and fasteners.
They’re a widely used tool in automotive industries. The most common use that all of us come across often is the removal or tightening of lug nuts when we change the tires of our car. If you happen to be in a car repair shop and the mechanic approaches your vehicle with a tool to change the tires, you’re looking at a pneumatic impact wrench.
Apart from changing tires of cars, other impact wrench uses include heavy equipment assembly, assembly of automobiles, manufacturing of machine tools, construction projects, and so forth.
You can also use an impact wrench for certain home jobs such as securing your bed or a tv wall mount in your home. But that would be a little overkill.
Impact drivers are a much more preferred choice for home-related tasks.
When using an impact wrench, make sure you assign the correct speed on the dial or switch and attach the correct sized socket. After that, all you have to do is pull the trigger!
Impact drivers are available in both manual and electrical versions, but the electric ones are what most people are talking about when referring to impact drivers. Electric impact drivers are available in both corded and cordless models.
Although impact drivers cannot generate the same power as impact wrenches, they have a high enough torque to help you drive a big screw with relative ease.
They’re very versatile power tools and allow you to take on screw and bolt installation and removal tasks with one hand. This is primarily because an impact driver features a hammer mechanism that generates considerable forward pressure.
Very much like an impact wrench, you can use an impact driver to loosen nuts and screws around the house that you cannot remove with a conventional screwdriver.
My cordless impact driver gets lots of use around the house owing to its frequent need.
An impact driver also tends to perform very well in the following cases:
Impact drivers are also immensely useful for cabinetmakers, construction workers and even for yourself if you want to take up any task that requires the use of several fasteners.
If you find yourself needing to loosen some bolts that are really stuck and not budging, a manual impact driver can come in quite handy.
You use a hand impact driver by doing the following steps:
At the same time, turn the impact driver in the direction in which you want the screw to turn.You shouldn’t use impact drivers for any kind of precise drilling since you do not need a hammering action when drilling. You should use a power drill instead for this purpose.
Moreover, impact drivers don’t have clutches. What this means is that you can very well accidentally tighten a screw too much when driving it in. In other words, when you are using an impact driver, you are at the mercy of your own precision and strength.
Impact drivers are also not suitable for tasks where a very high level of output torque is required such as taking out heavily corroded screws or assembling car parts together with precision.
Impact wrenches are bulkier, heavier and far more powerful (more output torque) than impact drivers. Impact wrenches produce around 7 times more power than impact drivers.
Moreover, impact wrenches make use of a square drive (1/2 inch), typically used for sockets, and are made for fastening and loosening bolts. On the other hand, most impact drivers use a 0.25-inch hex drive, which you can use with any bit or socket with a hex shank, to drive screws and bolts or drill holes.
You can use impact drivers for a wide variety of jobs (more on this later). In contrast, it’s best that you only use impact wrenches for specific high power tasks such as assembly and maintenance of machinery owing to the tool’s tremendous amount of power.
Impact wrenches are specialty tools, which is not the case for impact drivers. What this means is an impact wrench is a preferred choice for special purposes and not for day-to-day needs.
Even if you do purchase an impact wrench, the chances are few that you’ll actually face a situation where you’ll need to use it.
I would strongly recommend going for an impact driver if you need a tool for home tasks such as assembling your wood cupboard or fixing up your bed. It is also very easy to carry out any repair work involving tightening or loosening bolts at your home if you have an impact driver. Although you can use an impact wrench for these purposes as well, there is a chance you might damage your items or tighten the screws too much when you use an impact wrench. This is because this device has higher torque and is only suitable for certain applications.
On the other hand, you should opt for an impact wrench if you want to take up a specific job that requires a very powerful tool (or you just want to live out your NASCAR pit crew fantasies). For instance, you should definitely purchase an impact wrench if you work in an auto repair shop or if you’re in charge of maintaining machinery.
The high power of the impact wrench allows you to easily take out or tighten bolts used in trucks or cars.
On first observation, impact drivers and impact wrenches might seem like similar tools. However, as you can now see, there are a few distinct differences between them. When choosing between an impact driver and an impact wrench, it all comes down to what your particular needs are.
In a nutshell, go for an impact driver for home-related tasks. However, an impact wrench might be your best bet if you need a tool for specific tasks that require a huge amount of power/torque.
Can an Impact Driver Remove Lug Nuts?
Yes, technically. You would need to use a hex shaft to square drive adapter in order to attach a lug nut socket to the tool. However, an impact driver may not have enough torque to break loose a lug nut that’s rusted/frozen or over tightened.
A portable electric impact wrench often helps in the work of a car mechanic or builder, because they have to tighten nuts of various diameters and complexity, and the reliability of the manual method using a wrench is not always at a high level.
Why percussion? It is that this tool provides maximum torque! The whole process takes place without the efforts of the worker. In order for a specialist to cope with the task, it is necessary to choose the right tool. Impact wrenches can be divided into several types, the first we will consider pneumatic. This tool is powered by compressed air. Screw fastener sizes for this wrench range from 1/4 to 1 inch. This device is used in various industries, starting with a regular car service and ending with a major overhaul.
The principle of operation is based on the laws of physics. At the moment when the hammer, hitting the output shaft, by inertia directs its force to the shaft, and a torque is generated. It is worth considering that the design of the tool is designed in such a way that during the impact, the specialist almost does not feel vibration on the handle.
This principle is similar to the situation in which we, having taken an ordinary hammer, would begin to swing it, and when the amplitude would reach a maximum, we would lower the hammer on the object.
Also an undoubted advantage of the pneumatic wrench is the absence of a mains connection. This allows it to be used in environments where network access is not possible. The main positive characteristics of such a tool can be considered high accuracy and high speed. The combination of these two factors makes it indispensable. For example, if you come to a car service to change tires, for this you should remove the disks, if the disks are removed manually, then it will take a lot of time. If the working personnel will use the pneumatic type of wrench, then the work will not take even five minutes.
It is worth noting that it is compressed air that is the most popular source of energy for an impact wrench, this method allows you to achieve good results in terms of power, only with an impact tool you can sometimes unscrew long-rusted nuts.
Automotive Electric Impact Wrench allows you to perform many functions: tighten and unscrew nuts, screws and other fasteners that have a thread. Unscrewing the fastener is only possible if the tool has a reverse function. The use of the electrical network is the source of power for its operation. This moment is its minus and plus at the same time. Also, this tool has a lot of advantages. It has a very large tightening speed range that can be controlled and adjusted. It is used in many tire fitting industries, as well as in some construction work.
Cordless Impact Wrench is powered by a rechargeable battery that can be changed as needed. It is this version of the wrench that has gained great popularity among auto repair shops and ordinary amateur teams. The tool is simply indispensable in open space.
Such a device has a lot of advantages over others. Firstly, it can be used even where there is no access to electricity or a compressor. Secondly, such tools, as a rule, have a lightweight body. Thirdly, the specialist can replace the battery with a charged one and continue working. The disadvantage of such a device is the acquisition of its additional elements - batteries.
The construction of an impact wrench is somewhat similar to that of a drill. A standard tool has an assembly that includes a handle, chuck and body. The device has the highest tightening force due to the fact that several hammers hit the shaft. A cordless tool is not a must have car tool, but no car owner would mind having one in their tool box. In appearance, it looks like an ordinary screwdriver, they also like to call it like this: “this is the thing that wheels are changed in Formula 1”.
Such a tool in the arsenal of a car enthusiast will not only help to quickly fix problems with the wheel without the participation of a specialist, but will also be a source of pride for the owner himself. Thanks to such a little thing, you can save on a trip to a car service and change tires yourself, for example, from summer to winter, or it will help if something irreparable happens - a wheel is punctured on the way. In addition, such a tool will be indispensable for builders, especially for those who deal with the assembly of metal structures.
An impact wrench is more properly called a special tool. It is not required by home craftsmen in daily work, such as a drill or hammer. Its purchase will be justified only if the specialist uses it quite often due to his professional activity or lifestyle. For example, a buyer likes to travel long distances by car and often goes where car services are not available (mountains, forests, etc.).
Before using the tool, carefully read the instructions that come with it.
It is there that you can find the sequence of preparation and operation, security measures and variations of breakdowns, as well as simple and affordable ways to fix them. Typically, these manuals differ only slightly from one another, except for the use of additional features that may be endowed with one or another model of impact wrench.
Before using the tool, carefully inspect it for external or internal damage. Connect the device to the network through the socket, press the button, after which the electric motor will start. Check the engine power with the selected operating mode. With regular use of the wrench, you should check for damage to the cable, inspect the rope mechanism, and test the serviceability of the latch. It is also worth evaluating the mechanical components operating on friction, the reliability of fastening components and parts.
Like any tool, an impact wrench tends to break. Often the cause of a breakdown can be incorrect use, that is, improper preparation.
For example, if the tool overheats, then, of course, this is not fatal, it will start working, but this is already a hint that you have been working for too long and are not giving the device the rest it needs. The maximum operating time that can be sustained by the tool is indicated in its technical characteristics. Another common mystery is when the tool does not start when the wrench is connected to the mains. It is possible that there is no power in the outlet, or there are flaws somewhere in the cable. In order to eliminate them, it is necessary to unplug the device from the outlet and carefully examine the places where a wire break is possible.
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A pneumatic wrench is an effective and indispensable professional tool for car repairs, which can be used to easily and quickly tighten and unscrew threaded connections using compressed air.
It is easy to use and has high power, which allows you to work even with extremely tight connections.
Using a fitting, the tool is connected to an air compressor or pneumatic line. When you press the trigger of the pneumatic wrench, compressed air begins to flow into it through the hose, due to which the rotor of the tool rotates, which sets the spindle in motion. The reverse function, that is, the ability to switch the movement in the opposite direction, allows you not only to twist, but also to unscrew the fasteners.
They are equipped with angular pneumatic wrenches. air wrenches When choosing a pneumatic wrench, you should pay attention to a number of characteristics:
It is measured in meters/newtons. It should be borne in mind that the higher this indicator, the more powerful the compressor should be. 
It is preferable that the working pressure of the compressor is 2 bar more than the working pressure of the tool, and the performance is 20-30 percent higher; 
So, now you know what characteristics to look for and what to consider when choosing an air wrench for car repair. To make it even easier to choose an air impact wrench that is suitable specifically for your car service or garage, consider models for different situations - from basic to premium:
| Model | Features | Place of application | |
| Pneumatic impact wrench HANS 84116 |
| locksmith shop | |
| Lightweight Pneumatic Impact Wrench 84117 |
| locksmith shop | |
| Pneumatic Impact Wrench Hans 84111 |
| Tire post | |
| Composite pneumatic impact wrench HANS 84118 |
| Small commercial vehicle service |
In the assortment of STANKOIMPORT you will find other models of pneumatic wrenches from the world famous brand HANS. Among them, there will definitely be one that will meet your requirements and needs related to car repair. HANS products have earned the trust of professional craftsmen in Europe, Asia, the CIS countries, North and South America, Africa, Australia and Oceania - buy a HANS air impact wrench and become the owner of professional quality tools!
Following a few guidelines will improve the performance of your air impact wrench and prolong its life.
In the case of working with a pneumatic system, install an air preparation unit consisting of a lubricator and a filter to clean the mixture from impurities; Properly selected high-quality pneumatic wrench, subject to the rules of operation, will serve you for more than one year, help carry out repair work on many cars and bring profit to your car service.
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