Noel,
I haven't used the air wrenches, but IIRC the Chicago and Central brands are
the cheaper ones and Ingersoll-Rand is a big name brand. I did pick up the
Harbor Freight cheap 19.6 V electric impact wrench, which was like $140 versus
all the name brands, Makita and up, being over $200. So far so good. The
electric one, half a dozen of us have them, I think it was Peter Thana who
told me that he was happy so far with his. It's fine for how I use it, which
is just to spin off and pre-tighten, being a little paranoid after having
broken some lugs in the past. The $140 one is a ton better than the 12 volt
electric that runs off of your lighter, though whether it's $100 better I
don't know. I had one of the $40 12 V ones of a different brand and it lasted
about a season then broke, which maybe answers that.
An air impact will be a lot more useful if you also use it on other than wheel
lugs. The electric is so large that it's tough to get into other areas,
though the air impacts are only a little smaller, it's when you go to the air
ratchet that it's really convenient. I haven't decided to get "into" air in
my garage yet though. One other thing, never use chrome-plated sockets with
impact tools, just the black "Impact" sockets. The chrome plating makes them
more likely to crack under impact usage.
PaulT
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