Impact wrench or driver to change a wheel?

[MisterBoy]

Thanks @Avocet I want aware of the glass distinction. Knowing that could just possibly save a life... A friend recently had a very narrow escape on an icy road, but for a well positioned tree the car would have ended up in the water

 

[stevethejoiner]

Wow lots of replies, thanks. This all started with my mate buying a car and asking if I would look at his brakes. 18 lug nuts came off fine but 2 wouldn’t shift even with a 600mm breaker bar. So popped the car to our local tyre shop. Their impact wrench just created dust clouds on those nuts and they resorted to a breaker. But unlike my mate and I they had the guts to have one of them stand and bounce on the bar. I was sure the lug nut would shear but they didn’t.
So I’m not expecting an 18v impact to be stronger than a breaker, just wondered if 18v are worth having in the tool kit. And from what I’m reading I think they are.
So thanks guys.

 

[JohnD]

...I also find alloy wheels tend to 'weld' themselves to the hub, making them near impossible to get off at the roadside. The work-around, once you get the wheel off, is to smear copper-slip on the hub mating surface to prevent it happening....

Copper accelerates corrosion of aluminium.

I have an aluminium car with stainless screws, and have a small tub of special compatible aeronautical anti-seize grease. It is nickel grease but I expect ceramic brake grease would be OK.

 

[Fred Blogs]

That's not so bad. I inherited a proper floor jack (not sure if ideally I need 2?)... I was mentally extrapolating how long it takes to change a flat at the side of the road in the dark, in the rain!

Funnily enough I had to that last night. ****ing rain, pitch dark and on a slope but luckily outside my house. Grandaughter brought her car along that had a nail in the rear offside. She had filled it with goop, which has probably knackered her wheel now as well. I tried initially to use the car's supplied jack but that was making ominous creaking sounds and actuall moved when I tried to undo the wheel nut. So I do have a hydraulic jack which I went and used but not before I had removed the wheels. It isn't one of those massive garage ones that would lift the Queen Mary it's only a smallish one. The longest part of the operation was finding all her bits to do the job. The anti theft wheel nut remoever for instance. Where is that I asked. I don't know was her reply. Anyway I had the job done in an hour most of that time taken up getting the right tools together. Luckily her wheel nuts came off using the supplied wheel brace.

 

[johnny2007]

Next time untighten the wheel nuts before jacking the car up.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Yep, not a problem with the jack, user error.

 

[Belle427]

Wow lots of replies, thanks. This all started with my mate buying a car and asking if I would look at his brakes. 18 lug nuts came off fine but 2 wouldn’t shift even with a 600mm breaker bar. So popped the car to our local tyre shop. Their impact wrench just created dust clouds on those nuts and they resorted to a breaker. But unlike my mate and I they had the guts to have one of them stand and bounce on the bar. I was sure the lug nut would shear but they didn’t.
So I’m not expecting an 18v impact to be stronger than a breaker, just wondered if 18v are worth having in the tool kit. And from what I’m reading I think they are.
So thanks guys.

I have an 18 volt Ryobi and it will fail with an even slightly over tightened wheel nut, some are better than others though.
I do use it on installing wheel nuts but always just make sure its on its lowest setting for tightening and then check with the torque wrench.