Impact Driver Vs Impact Wrench: The Perfect Tool For Your Job – 2024 Guide

Before impact drivers became quite popular, do it yourself workers had to put up with just two options when it comes to power-wrenching and these options include making use of the standard electric drill or the torque wrench.

However, they made use of the standard electric drill when they had to perform tasks like fastening, drilling, driving and tasks like restoration and automotive repair (such as removing bolts, nuts, lugs) were where the wrench would come in. In this review, we would be telling you about the differences between the impact driver vs impact wrench

Following the introduction of the impact drivers to the market, these compact and sleek tools were designed to generate more torque compared to a standard drill. They were also very convenient to use compact to the heavy and giant wrenches.

The major differences between both tools are what we would be talking about in this review and you would also get to find out specific areas where each tool is found to be more effective than the other. Come with us as we tell you all you need to know:

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Impact Driver Vs Impact Wrench

General Overview

Generally speaking, impact wrenches are known to be bulkier, heavier and also carry lots of power compared to impact drivers and impact wrenches are known to make use of a square drive which makes them suitable for fastening and loosening of sockets.

Other drivers tend to make use of a 1/4 hex drive when they want to drive screws and one question that is frequently being asked is the amount of torque an impact wrench has compared to an impact driver. Take, for example, the Milwaukee M18 impact driver is capable of generating about 2200 lbs in torque.

The funny thing about having so much power is it can only be used when you probably want to renovate a semi-truck parked in your driveway because such an amount of power is basically not needed when dealing with chores around the house.

Impact drivers are best used where standard drivers do not have enough power to perform but impact wrenches can be used for absolutely anything like drilling holes and driving screws.

However, high torque wrenches can be used in the removal of extremely tight and big sockets.

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Let me take your mind back a bit, do you remember visiting a workshop and hearing a sonic sounding high pitched drill?

Yes, that is the sound of an impact wrench but one thing that we would want you to have at the back of your mind is that the impact driver and impact wrench both serve similar purposes.

What this means is that they can be used in delivering concussive rotational blows so as to maximize torque and this can be seen when a sled hammer is used to hit a wrench when trying to remove a bolt that is stuck.

Using An Impact Driver Vs Impact Wrench

Just like we mentioned earlier, most do it yourself workers and average homeowners might not necessarily need an impact wrench especially for light automotive work or jobs around the house but it would also be nice to have one in your house if you ever have to remove lug nuts or maybe rotate a tire.

However, this would also warrant you to want to make a wise investment. On the other hand, impact drivers are considered as practical tools for homeowners and do it yourself workers and this also contributed to their rise in popularity over the years.

They are also user friendly, delivers more torque and are also compact than any standard cordless drill or full-sized impact wrench. Every decent impact driver found on the market today comes with a great amount of torque that can be used in eliminating lugs from cars.

Bottom Line

The bottom line of this review is that an impact wrench has more power compared to an impact driver and homeowners and do it yourself workers would obviously not have a need for a tool that would deliver a high amount of torque.

Impact drivers are very much practical tools that any average user can work with but when an impact driver is compared with a standard hex square drive adaptor, they can convert easily into an impact wrench that can be used alongside a socket driver.

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