Cordless Impact 1/2" drive $60 (heads up)

[clyde]

http://pepboys.shoplocal.com/pepboys...PepBoys-070408



1/2" drive cordless impact gun. 24v. Rated for 170ft-lb. Comes with 4 impact sockets of questionable quality, but 17mm isn't one of the sizes (so you BMW people would need to add one anyone). It also has a variable speed trigger and built in power regulator.

Regular price is $99.99, but they're almost on sale and have a mail in rebate. I think when I bought mine a year ago, it worked out to $80. It's on sale now for $80 in-store plus a $20 mail in rebate. For $60, this is the biggest steal of the century.

Dunno if it will actually go to 170 ft-lbs, but the torque spec on the RX-8 lugs is 108 ft-lbs, and out of about 1,000 attempts at breaking them (40 broken lugs per event multiplied by about 25 events plus a few maintenance cycles and many uses on other vehicles), it only failed to break a single lug when not on a very run down battery (I was lazy and usually did about three events per charge and at almost every event at least one person would borrow it). Putting them back on, I'd let it give a few whacks before letting off, and I'd almost never have to give the torque wrench more than a 1/8 turn to get to 108.

Even with all that use, it's still working like a champ. I may just go buy another one as a back up. When I bought it, I figured that I'd be happy if it got me to the end of the season. I think Bren's father bought one about the same time I did and apparently, it failed on first use. Through the year, I saw more and more people use them, more and more people are posting on various boards that they've been buying them, and that's the only failure I've heard about (although some people have mentioned hearing something inside it rolling around, but it hasn't impeded use).

You can buy additional batteries for it as well. Some of the higher end guns may be "better" or more durable, but at the price, it's flat out amazing. Seriously, the $80 I spent on mine is probably the best $80 I've spent on autocross related stuff.

I would highly recommend this to anyone and everyone that thinks they may ever take a wheel off for any reason, even if it's only on rare occasion. Until you use an impact gun that will break the lugs of any wheel that's in the air, you can't imagine how much easier/faster it makes the process.

[bren]

Originally Posted by clyde

I think Bren's father bought one about the same time I did and apparently, it failed on first use.

It didn't even get 1 lug nut off.....just a bunch of grinding noises.

Still, for $60 it's a steal.

[operknockity]

How does it compare to the Harbour Freight el-cheapo impact driver

[clyde]

The one that HF sold up until about 2 years ago (I think) is supposedly better than the one they sell now. I used the older one a few times a while back and it seemed to work okay, but if the battery wasn't on a nearly fresh and full charge, it would sometimes take some effort to break lugs on the BMWs, which have a decently lower torque spec. Like I said, from what I hear, the newer ones aren't as good as the older ones.

For the same money, I'd buy the GY one, but I think it's less expensive than the HF one. If I had a working HF one, I probably wouldn't feel compelled to replace it if I was still happy with it, though.