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I want to start doing more jobs on the Celica - changing brake discs, that kind of thing - and think an impact driver will be pretty life changing when it comes to such things.
Trouble is, funds are very limited so a Milwaukee or Makita is out of the question. Does anyone have any experience of the myriad Chinese specials on Amazon for the £50-80 mark and if so any particular recommendations?
Does anyone have any experience of the myriad Chinese specials on Amazon for the £50-80 mark and if so any particular recommendations?
No experience but if Screwfix or Halfords have a house brand version in the same price range I'd favour them over Amazon for relatively easy warranty should it be required
I bought a cheap Amazon one. It's done a ton of work. It's been perfect. Lots of power, came with all the bits I need
Have you got any Makita or Milwaukee batteries? If so the bare units can be had for your budget.
TBH, I’ve bought, used, and destroyed some CCC (cheap Chinese crap) and if used for more than a couple of jobs then a quality tool is the best value. An impact driver is definitely in the “buy something quality” category.
No batteries sadly. Some CCC is becoming less crap also however I would generally agree something like this, quality counts.
It's not going to see a ton of work - would just be handy for the jobs I have in mind. Will have a mull...
I inherited the Lidl parkside 400nm one with my van.
I wouldn't have bought one but I've very very very impressed with it. Probably won't last the course but it's more than capable of wheel nuts on the van which are bastard tight and I did discovery 4 lower and upper arms with it. -anyone that's done that knows how much of a bitch that is.
Whereas I was given one of the lower spec Makita ones and it struggles with an 80nm wheel nut! Managed an alternator nut ok but thoroughly beaten by flywheel nuts. A crank pulley would laugh in its face.
I'd definitely give Aldi/Lidl ones a go.
Got a £60 Onevan impact (exluding batteries as already had a few) off aliexpress - yes it's not Makita big boy powerful - but easily out performs a matika that's about 5 years old and was 3-4x the price at the time!
Just to be clear do you mean an impact wrench? I assume so as you're mentioning working on cars.
Either way Erbaur stuff isn't awful. Screwfix have a couple but they're both bare, so you'd have to buy a battery and charger.
TBH that's the big cost. Most brands will sell you a cheap(ish) drill and driver set with batteries and a charger to get you hooked.
So you'd need to look at the total cost and decide which brand you want to go for.
That being said I appreciate that you can get convertors for batteries nowadays.
For what it's worth I like Makita stuff as I'm more general DIY, the boy is fully on the Milwaukee waggon but comes from more of a car background. I'm pretty sure there is tool track world out there somewhere where there are die hard fans of each brand arguing which is better. Bit like the 27.5 vs 29 debate, none of the big tool brands are bad, just some more suited to certain bents.
Choose the one you like the colour of, that's as good a way as any other.
I have the worx impact driver, at about £100 it's great. Their range of tools are good to buy into, good value.
How often are you going to be working on the car and undoing big, stubborn bolts?
I've always fancied an electric impact driver but I manage with a Halfords socket set and a couple of breaker bars.
It's not worth the cost for the amount of work I do, it would just stand there gathering dust.
I have the worx impact driver, at about £100 it's great. Their range of tools are good to buy into, good value.
Do you also need a new mower/Strummer etc? Might be worth looking at your tool needs in the round and seeing which combo deal is best value.
Get one . It makes everything easier and quicker when working on car stuff.
Even if you have to use a bar and socket for the initial 1/4 turn , then switch over to the gun and wind the nut off . Especially useful for bolts which the head is only reachable with a ring spanner. You can concentrate on that whilst the gun does the hard work.
Parkside is absolutely fine, maybe a pair of batteries , some extensions and adaptors to get from 1/2 to 3/8 and some penetrating spray . Also really quick for bolts covered in grime , just flick from fwd to reverse to clear the thread..
There are also mains powered ones if you want maximum bang for the buck - not as convenient but ok if you are working near socket. If not in a hurry, get on the Machine Mart mailing list and wait for a VAT free offer (eg 450Nm with 4x car sized impact sockets for £73. 320Nm for £53).
We've got Makita battery ones at work on what is basically Meccano with M20 bolts. Very strong and we amazingly haven't killed one yet - but painfully noisy so good ear defenders a must. They have replaced pneumatic guns on anything not needing ¾" drive or bigger.
I bought a black and decker one as we had the battery and charger from the B&D strimmer already.
I get laughed at by some people in the rally service area, but it does up/undoes my wheel nuts (92nM) happily which is what it was bought for.
Since buying it I’ve used it for loads of other stuff including a suspension rebuild and it’s been really good. I borrowed a proper one a couple of times and the owners have always told me to be careful as they could strip threads/snap bolts etc if used on the wrong setting, that’s not an issue I have with mine.
The only thing it failed to undo was a wheel bearing castle nut, but a breaker bar cracked it loose and the impact driver finished the job off.
You can get them refurbished from the official B&D shop on eBay and they come with a 12 month warrantee. Mine looked new when it arrived
There seems to be a duplicate thread knocking about?
I posted on it suggesting the Titan or Erbauer stuff from Screwfix. I haven't tried their impact drivers but other stuff I've bought has been value for money.
Whereas I was given one of the lower spec Makita ones and it struggles with an 80nm wheel nut! Managed an alternator nut ok but thoroughly beaten by flywheel nuts. A crank pulley would laugh in its face.
Maybe worth mentioning that the smaller makita batteries can't drive all the tools at full power- I have the cheapest makita impact and with the 3ah battery it's gutless, with 5ah it's noticably more powerful and even sounds happier.
Same with most brands the batteries you get in most of the cheap twin packs are really only good for torches and radios.
I have a grinder that the 1.5ah battery won't even turn on.
Stick a 5ah on and it'll run for an hour.
Same with my circ saw.
It'll run the impact driver but it's noticably better with the 3ah.
Awesome. Thanks all. I'll have a look around at some. One of the reasons for getting the Celica was to learn to do some mechanical bits and I've already sworn enough at stubborn bolts etc using a socket set so think I'd get the value from one - especially in the price range I'm looking at.
4ah on mine, it's still shit 😀 I still love it though, as on anything with iess torque it saves so much time. Putting 17 studs into an engine then spinning on the nuts before the sealant skinned over was a right arse when I did it last time with a ratchet. This time i didn't come away wanting to set fire to my garage.
Edit: Celica? 90s JDM fettling is SO much more pleasurable with power tools to break the rust loose. No brainer.
4ah on mine, it's still shit 😀 I still love it though, as on anything with iess torque it saves so much time. Putting 17 studs into an engine then spinning on the nuts before the sealant skinned over was a right arse when I did it last time with a ratchet. This time i didn't come away wanting to set fire to my garage.
Edit: Celica? 90s JDM fettling is SO much more pleasurable with power tools to break the rust loose. No brainer.
Yep, just back from 3 weeks in the garage. Failed it's MOT and needed a fair bit of work to get through. No rust though so happy to spend the money on mechanical bits to keep it on the road.
Was a bit grubby and at a car show tomorrow on a club stand so given her a quick wash and buff... 
impact driver is for screws. You want an impact wrench.
ive got a cheap chinese ebay one years ago, was useless at first so got my most of my money back and kept it. thought id just use it to undo already loosened stuff, started working better the more i used it and tbh its alright, wont undo anything tight but it speeds the jobs up and is nice and small.
i will be replacing it with a erbauer one soon (they do 2 a big boy and smaller one) as i got loads of there other stuff (combi drill, impact driver, circular saw etc) when they were on offer and they are bang on.
battery ratchets are also decent for speeding jobs up, my ebay jobby is alright too.
