B-STOCK

Is it a bad idea to use a impact wrench on your Vette lugs if your using a socket with a insert to protect the finish on the nuts. Will the impact damage the insert. I am getting old and my tried and true way of cracking the lugs with a breaker bar with a nylon insert socket is getting a bit tiering. I bought a impact wrench and worry about it damaging the insert. I would removing and tighten them a bit with the impact but still use a quality torque wrench for the final tightening. Maybe I am being a lot lazy but just wanted to know if a friend came over and wanted to do a quick wheel change if I should use the socket with the nylon insert. Thanks, Mike

NSC5

I would buy a socket with insert designed for use with an impact wrench and that should avoid damage. I would never use a regular socket with an impact wrench, you might get away with it for awhile but the chances of a shattered socket and shrapnel are too great to chance.

You can actually put more undesired stress on something with a breaker bar than you will with a properly applied impact wrench. With a breaker bar it is difficult to not put some outward bending pressure against the stud but the natural position of holding the impact wrench firmly against the nut avoids this problem. I have seen people shear studs with a breaker bar when the pressure they apply provides not only turning torque but also a bending moment to the stud.

As an aside I do some woodworking and I found that it is much easier to install some of the small brass fasteners without any damage/marring using my Makita impact driver compared to using a hand tool. With an impact driver the only real force you have to provide is properly holding the tool in place which makes it easy for you to keep the tool properly positioned. I also remember the first time I changed the mower blades on my Deere 72" deck and used a breaker bar to get them loose, what a major pain. The next time I drove the tractor up on ramps and the impact wrench spun the blade bolts loose so easily I first thought I had the wrong size socket on them and it was slipping.

Properly applied impact tools are a great work saver AND better for the parts you are wrenching on.

ULEWZ

The problem with the impact wrench is the high speed rotation once the lug nut breaks free. That damages the threads, especially over repeated times. I always tip the tire installer an extra $20 to do it all by hand. Same with install, by hand. Just my two cents.

NSC5

I don't need to use an impact on lugs (yet!) but when I am using the impact I always trigger it to break the fastener loose and then back way off on the trigger to remove it. It is pretty easy to control the speed of even the larger air impact I use for heavy duty stuff. I agree that there is no reason to spin the fastener at high speed.

I always install fasteners with hand tools although I guess using one of the torque limiting extensions would be OK for wheels. I swear that they either have a gorilla or an air impact at the GM Moraine engine plant for installing oil filters. I have owned two GMC Duramax diesel pickups and the first oil change on both required a pipe wrench to break the filter loose and I am pretty strong.

Fireeagle

I agree with ULEWZ. I ALWAYS request that they tighten the lugs by hand and use a torque wrench. Being forced to cut off stripped lugs and those cheap caps they use on my wife's old 300 was no walk in the park.

B-STOCK

Very helpfull info. Even got lawnmower advise. Have to do my first 7 hour maintance on my new Deer lawn tractor. Thanks for the tip on the impact driver. You guys cover everything.

Bill Dearborn

Select a quality 19 mm impact socket and it will fit the nut tightly and not tear it up. However, if you remove the lugs a lot of times the stainless steel sheet metal sheathing on the stock lug nut will start to loosen and may fall off. If that happens you end up with a lug nut that isn't a standard metric or sae size.

When using an impact wrench there isn't any problem with the speed of the nut coming off other than once it comes off the stud it can fly out of the socket and bounce around.

When you put the nut on start it by placing it in the socket and then using your fingers to get the nut started. Tighten with a low torque impact and then do the final tightening to 100 lb ft using a torque wrench. I do this a lot of times per year and have been doing it this way ever since I started doing track events 25 years ago.

When you get good using the impact wrench you will find you can use it to get the nut started without cross threading the nut. That saves the time of removing and reinstalling the socket on the impact wrench. When you are in a hurry to check the brakes and/or change tires between sessions it helps to save a half a minute on each of 20 nuts.

That is when you find out all of the **** stuff is just BS that doesn't do anything for you.

Bill

davepl

I use a quality socket on the end of a "Torque Stick" on an impact. Because I wasn't sure how much I trusted them, the first 5 or so times I went around and re-torqued by hand with a good torque wrench. But they've always proven to be spot on.

So I start the nut by hand and zing it on with the impact and the torque stick. I still occasionally check the odd nut with the torque wrench, but it's bordering on OCD because it's always right.

I have never damaged a nut or stud using this method, and I swap back and forth between MPSS and DR all the time. I also manage 9 or so other vehicles and rotate tires, etc, without a problem.

In fact the -only- problem I've ever had is stripping an Audi lug bolt, and that was with a torque wrench! It yielded before the click for some reason...

Kent1999

As Dave says -- Just be mindful of what you are doing with your wrench (power or manual), and your C7's lugs and nuts will outlast you.

BlackMoon

What is the torque spec for the C7Z06 lugs please. I just picked up a 15 and am going thru everything on the car.

I was told never to use an impact to tighten lugs. I sometimes just spin them snug and follow up with a torque stick or wrench if available.

Thanks for the info.

spearfish25

100 lb-ft

Bill Dearborn

You don't use an impact to do the final tightening because you don't know what the torque will end up being. The torque stick gives you a known torque setting. However, you can use the impact wrench to spin the lugs on until they first hit the wheel. With an air impact you can set the torque to a minimum level which is around 50 lb-ft. With an electric impact you can just touch the trigger and let loose and do about the same.

Bill