Would these two work?

[Locc]

Hey guys,

after becoming stuck with a flat tyre and unable to remove my wheel bolts, I've decided to buy a cheapy breaker bar in order to get me out of the situation in future.

Would these two items work together?:

breaker bar:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-AK7302-Breaker-Ba...

socket set:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-AK56-11M-Impact-S...

Cheers for any help.

[jjones]

Yes they would.

Sockets are made for an impact gun though so they may have slightly thicker wall thickness which may make them a tight fit in your wheels. Also if you use the sockets for other jobs the extra wall thickness may get in the way. They have six sides though which is good for applying max torque without the socket slipping (rounding off).

Oh and welcome to pistonheads.

[Locc]

jjones said:

Yes they would.

Sockets are made for an impact gun though so they may have slightly thicker wall thickness which may make them a tight fit in your wheels. Also if you use the sockets for other jobs the extra wall thickness may get in the way. They have six sides though which is good for applying max torque without the socket slipping (rounding off).

I'll be keeping the sockets exclusively in the boot of the car, so they'd only be used for that. Should I just look for ones that aren't made for an impact gun?

Last question, do you think 750mm is overkill on the bar? Is 60 adequate? Or should I go for the larger bar; there's only a few £££ in it.

Thanks for the reply

[4737 Carlin]

Locc said:

I'll be keeping the sockets exclusively in the boot of the car, so they'd only be used for that. Should I just look for ones that aren't made for an impact gun?

Last question, do you think 750mm is overkill on the bar? Is 60 adequate? Or should I go for the larger bar; there's only a few £££ in it.

Thanks for the reply

If you're only using them for removing wheels you won't really need the full set, will you. A 19mm and a 17mm will cover almost all car's wheel nuts.

750mm is a bit overkill. The Snap-On one I use is about 450mm (18") and works fine. I just put some pipe over it on the rare occasions I've needed any extra leverage.

[ging84]

i would not want to use that on wheels with a normal size socket, you will find that to have the breaker bar clear of touching any part of the wheel, you will need it to be at quite a sharp angle, which cuts down your leverage and makes it more like likely you'll round off a nut.

to use a breaker bar on wheels what you need either either a deep socket, or an extension bar, then your breaker bar will clear all of the wheel without needing to be at an angle, so it can be used with full leverage.

You would have to be quite careful not to over torque if you did them back up with that, 120nm on a .75M bar is the equivalent of lifting 16KG, so not a huge amount of force.
A relatively fit person would probably get 500nm if they heaved on a bar that size, even half that would almost certainly be damaging.

[JimbobVFR]

I've got one of these in both of my cars
http://m.screwfix.com/p/laser-telescopic-wheel-bra...

And it's not let me down yet.

[maurauth]

ging84 said:

i would not want to use that on wheels with a normal size socket, you will find that to have the breaker bar clear of touching any part of the wheel, you will need it to be at quite a sharp angle, which cuts down your leverage and makes it more like likely you'll round off a nut.

to use a breaker bar on wheels what you need either either a deep socket, or an extension bar, then your breaker bar will clear all of the wheel without needing to be at an angle, so it can be used with full leverage.

You would have to be quite careful not to over torque if you did them back up with that, 120nm on a .75M bar is the equivalent of lifting 16KG, so not a huge amount of force.
A relatively fit person would probably get 500nm if they heaved on a bar that size, even half that would almost certainly be damaging.

As above, might be worth picking up a torque wrench to make sure you're doing them back up correctly without over tightening or being cautious and undertightening, they're up at about £60 at Halfords for one that will do enough for the vast majority of applications.

Not sure how well they last long term but I've not had any issues. Other than worrying that I've got a massive breaker bar and torque wrench in the boot if I get pulled over!

I only carry the 17/19mm and couple of adaptors to get the correct reach and fitment for both tools. Just chucked it all in a little drawstring pouch with the locking wheel nut.

[jkh112]

JimbobVFR said:

I've got one of these in both of my cars
http://m.screwfix.com/p/laser-telescopic-wheel-bra...

And it's not let me down yet.

Me too. Ultimately not as strong as a proper breaker bar but perfectly adequate and strong enough for overtightened wheelnuts. It also has a shape which gives it in effect a fixed extension bar so it clears the wheels.

[TooMany2cvs]

jkh112 said:

JimbobVFR said:

I've got one of these in both of my cars
http://m.screwfix.com/p/laser-telescopic-wheel-bra...

And it's not let me down yet.

Me too. Ultimately not as strong as a proper breaker bar but perfectly adequate and strong enough for overtightened wheelnuts.

I've bent one of those...

[steveo3002]

JimbobVFR said:

I've got one of these in both of my cars
http://m.screwfix.com/p/laser-telescopic-wheel-bra...

And it's not let me down yet.

thats what i carry in the boot , good enough

if you want seperates no need for the impact sockets , maybe a deep socket would be better if the bolts are recessed in a alloy

[kambites]

I'd echo the comments about impact sockets not being ideal for this sort of use. Firstly the sidewalls are thicker so they may not fit into the hole around your wheel nuts. Secondly impact sockets are much harder than ordinary sockets and consequently more brittle - where a normal socket will bend or round off, an impact socket will shatter; it takes a lot to break a decent socket but I've no idea how good the quality control on the cheap ones is. Thirdly, in my experience impact cheap sockets tend to rust if left anywhere prone to damp.

You might also find, depending on the shape of your alloys, that you need a "deep drive" type socket to get the breaker bar at a good angle. I'd just buy a single deep socket of the correct size (which as someone said above will probably be 17 or 19mm).


The breaker bar looks fine but overkill. I have one that sort of size for removing things like crank bolts which I can't get an impact gun onto, but 50cm or even a bit less would be fine for wheel nuts.

Edited by kambites on Monday 6th July 08:48