Impact wrench or driver to change a wheel?

Thanks @Avocet I want aware of the glass distinction. Knowing that could just possibly save a life... A friend recently had a very narrow escape on an icy road, but for a well positioned tree the car would have ended up in the water
 
Wow lots of replies, thanks. This all started with my mate buying a car and asking if I would look at his brakes. 18 lug nuts came off fine but 2 wouldn’t shift even with a 600mm breaker bar. So popped the car to our local tyre shop. Their impact wrench just created dust clouds on those nuts and they resorted to a breaker. But unlike my mate and I they had the guts to have one of them stand and bounce on the bar. I was sure the lug nut would shear but they didn’t.
So I’m not expecting an 18v impact to be stronger than a breaker, just wondered if 18v are worth having in the tool kit. And from what I’m reading I think they are.
So thanks guys.
 
Harry Bloomfield said:
...I also find alloy wheels tend to 'weld' themselves to the hub, making them near impossible to get off at the roadside. The work-around, once you get the wheel off, is to smear copper-slip on the hub mating surface to prevent it happening....
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Copper accelerates corrosion of aluminium.

I have an aluminium car with stainless screws, and have a small tub of special compatible aeronautical anti-seize grease. It is nickel grease but I expect ceramic brake grease would be OK.
 
MisterBoy said:
That's not so bad. I inherited a proper floor jack (not sure if ideally I need 2?)... I was mentally extrapolating how long it takes to change a flat at the side of the road in the dark, in the rain!
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Funnily enough I had to that last night. ****ing rain, pitch dark and on a slope but luckily outside my house. Grandaughter brought her car along that had a nail in the rear offside. She had filled it with goop, which has probably knackered her wheel now as well. I tried initially to use the car's supplied jack but that was making ominous creaking sounds and actuall moved when I tried to undo the wheel nut. So I do have a hydraulic jack which I went and used but not before I had removed the wheels. It isn't one of those massive garage ones that would lift the Queen Mary it's only a smallish one. The longest part of the operation was finding all her bits to do the job. The anti theft wheel nut remoever for instance. Where is that I asked. I don't know was her reply. Anyway I had the job done in an hour most of that time taken up getting the right tools together. Luckily her wheel nuts came off using the supplied wheel brace.
 
stevethejoiner said:
Wow lots of replies, thanks. This all started with my mate buying a car and asking if I would look at his brakes. 18 lug nuts came off fine but 2 wouldn’t shift even with a 600mm breaker bar. So popped the car to our local tyre shop. Their impact wrench just created dust clouds on those nuts and they resorted to a breaker. But unlike my mate and I they had the guts to have one of them stand and bounce on the bar. I was sure the lug nut would shear but they didn’t.
So I’m not expecting an 18v impact to be stronger than a breaker, just wondered if 18v are worth having in the tool kit. And from what I’m reading I think they are.
So thanks guys.
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I have an 18 volt Ryobi and it will fail with an even slightly over tightened wheel nut, some are better than others though.
I do use it on installing wheel nuts but always just make sure its on its lowest setting for tightening and then check with the torque wrench.
 
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