What kind of cordless impact driver should I buy?
 

My Pittsburgh Tools driver from HF sucks. Everytime I bring it to a tech session, I still end up borrowing Kurt's Snap-On. What's the best thing out there for under $300? Can Snap-On's be had on eBay for a decent price? Are used ones ok? What Snap-On model is best? Thanks.

Might consider a Craftsman, got one for Christmas. so don't know the exact cost, has a varible speed trigger, torque and battery life is awesome..

R

If money is no object, buy a SnapOn. If it is, Craftsman 18volt has worked well for me for many years. I think 24volt might now be available and, if so, i'd recommend that. You can't have too much power.

Rick, though I have not bought one, my research brought
me to the DeWalt DW059K-2. 18Volts, 300 ft/lbs of torque.
$279 or so. Amazon sells them.

Reading the reviews it seems strong enough to remove lug nuts.
One down side is it does not have braking like the less powerful
drivers do, according to the reviews. However, the feedback I read indicated it was strong enough to be useful and was well made.

You might want to check it out. DeWalt has several slightly
less powerful drivers with braking.

Rick,
This was covered on a recent Rennlist thread. Take a look at http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...=impact+wrench

Ebay a Snap-On and never have a doubt or second thought. Mike Buck smartly scored one for $3XX something with 2 batteries.

As much as you spend replacing almost new stuff on you car you have no excuse not springing for a good tool for a little more $. :P

Craftsman was I think under $200. Breaks them loose from the getgo,does them up to a quarter turn or so less than the torque wrench and you can get service/batteries from your local friendly Sears. Looked at Snap On, just too much and more hassles if anything went wrong. Snap On have a great reputation and nothing against them, might be worth the price, but 20 or so track days a year have never had a problem with battery fade after multiple swapping of all 4s on multiple cars.
Dirk

Yeah right! I really think Jim Richards deserves my reputation more than I do.

Just finished rear suspension rebuild a few minutes ago and my impact driver did not last past trailing arm bolts and putting the wheels back on. BTW Kurt, my bushings were SHOT. I was particularly impressed by your Snap-On when it snugged up my rear wheel bearing. I want that kind of torque.

RL

Now that you have a garage, a compressor is a must. Save the cordless for the track.

I've been the whole route: started with a Dewalt 14V, then to a compressor and then to SnapOn. SnapOn wins hands down. I never use anything else for lug nuts.

I know it's expensive but you'll only have to buy one. :D