I just bought an air compressor for my garage and want to know what tools are the must haves for wrenching on my cars. What will get those old rusty bolts off with ease, this seems to be what I always run into.

 

Impact wrench, air ratchet, tire inflation thingy (technical term), impact hammer, etc... You can usually find a kit that has five or six different tools with a bunch of attachments. I like Ingersol-Rand, but I'm sure everyone has their preferences.

 

What is the best torque rating for the impact wrench for getting off stubborn bolts?

 

Talk to a sales rep. I know you can get impact wrenches up to at least 1,000 ft/lbs. One thing you will want to look for is whether your compressor can push enough air to run high power air tools.

Oh, and look at some torque sticks. Good stuff.

1,000 ft-lbs of nut busting torque!! I guess they think people need help busting their nuts.

 

I have had excellent luck with my Snap-on 1/2 impact. For the air ratchet you can go with a craftsman as they have a great product and warranty.

 

The air tools I use the most: 1/2" and 3/8" impact gun (1/2" for wheels, 3/8" for everything else). Obviously an air chuck, and also an air gun for blowing compressed air (great for cleaning). Cutoff wheel for cutting (odd I know), and a die grinder.

As far as brand: For a guy who isn't using them much, you can probably buy a lower quality brand. What I do know, is that my chinese die grinder lasted 8 years, I switched to an ingersol rand die grinder, which then broke within a week. The replacement broke within 2. I took the chinese die grinder apart, and swapped the parts over to the IR assembly (nicer handle, etc), and the parts were a direct swap. Now that thing has been going strong! My 1/2" impact is a knock off brand (you are only swapping wheels usually, and stubborn larger bolts...find something around 500ft/lbs if you can), but my 3/8" impact is a blue point, and one of my most used, and favorite tools in the box. The die grinder is now an IR/chinese mutation, and the cutoff wheel is a chinese knock off which I have had for 7-8 years.

Make sure you keep your tools oiled, and you shouldn't have any problems with them.

 

Oh, also make sure to drain your air compressor of water on a weekly basis. Water is a killer to air tools, and will collect in the bottom of your compressor over time, not only rotting out the tank, but allow water to get in your lines. There is usually a petcock at the bottom of the tank for doing so.

 

ir ingersolrand is the shiz...

 

Yeah, what has been said above is basically what you need. Air ratchet, impact gun, cutoff wheel, etc....

I prefer Ingersoll Rand and Craftsman. I have an Ingersoll rand 1/2 impact gun (I believe it is an IR380N or something along those lines). It is about 20 years old and my father used it almost every day for his Marina. It is still going strong today, though I do make sure I oil it all the time. For the price and the amount of time this thing lasted, I would recommend getting decent quality and handing it down in the family!! :P

 

Check ebay as well. You can find some good quality air tools for reasonable prices i.e. last year's model of Snap On impact guns.