Nobody wants wires or pipes trailing around their workshop, do they? Cordless tools solve that problem, and in this feature we take a look at some of the most useful.
When it comes to convenience when working on your car, nothing beats modern cordless tools. None of the hard manual labor of hand tools, and no need for a separate power supply and long pipes or cables like corded electric or air tools.
Thanks to modern battery and motor technology, cordless tools are lighter, more powerful, and have a longer life than ever before, making them usable for a wide variety of things that could only be dreamed of in the recent past. To make your life even easier, most brands of cordless tools have interchangeable batteries, potentially meaning only one charger and battery type is needed for all your tools.
While not every cordless tool is suitable for automotive use, here’s our run-down of the most useful tools for maintaining, repairing, and modifying your car.
Drill
While cheap and low power ones could put you off cordless tools for life, a good quality cordless drill is one of the most useful tools you can have. Light, compact, powerful, and with a long battery life, modern cordless drills have a myriad of uses in the automotive world, from the obvious hole drilling, to paint and rust removal with wire and sand wheels, large hole cutting with hole saw attachments, and much more.
With multiple speeds and torque settings being the norm, plus of course the trigger mechanism itself giving large adjustability, you can even use a drill as an effective screwdriver; though an impact driver would be a better option for that purpose.
On a side note, check out this mad V8-powered cordless drill creation! Want to buy a high-end drill for your own garage? Consider something like this DeWalt kit ($137.99).
Impact Driver
A tool that can do most of the functions that you’d also do with an impact wrench, ratchet, and drill, an impact driver is a hugely versatile tool capable of a wide variety of jobs. Suitable for use on smaller and more fragile fasteners like screws, an impact driver is a far more effective alternative to a cordless drill with a screwdriver attachment. That being said, you can also use an impact driver on larger and more conventional fasteners of almost any kind.
It sounds like one tool that can do everything you want, and for some it is, but it does have some drawbacks. Compared to an impact wrench it is far less powerful, so generally isn’t the kind of tool you’d be using to remove larger and more stubborn bolts. Compared to a cordless ratchet wrench, they generally have similar torque, but due to the design you can’t use them as easily in confined spaces. Because of this, the impact driver is a tool that some people will use constantly, but for others, hardly ever. So, think carefully before you buy.
If you do decide you want one, perhaps consider something like the Milwaukee product pictured above. The full kit with charging accessories costs $137.88, but you can also buy the bare tool separately for just $76.99.
Impact Wrench
Probably the best known of all powered tools in the automotive world, thanks to modern motors and batteries these are very powerful and long lasting for their size and weight, and are a useful addition to any tool kit. When it comes to loosening stubborn nuts and bolts the cordless impact wrench is unbeatable. In addition to their high torque, the impact style of operation shocks otherwise stuck fasteners loose far easier than conventional turning force.
Generally, we wouldn’t recommend using an impact wrench for more delicate and precise work – an impact driver is the tool for that – but for getting tough fasteners undone, accept no substitute.
Ryobi is another reputable brand worth considering when buying cordless tools. You can pick up the full impact wrench kit for $139.99, or buy the bare tool for $122.97.
Ratchet Wrench
The cordless ratchet wrench is a tool that you often don’t realize you need until you have it. While not blessed with the power of an impact wrench, they can nevertheless reduce manual labor when working on cars and engines so much that many mechanics use them more than any other power tool.
Aside from the reduced manual labor, the biggest advantage of a ratchet wrench is the ability to undo things in tight spaces where neither an impact wrench nor a manual ratchet wrench has the room to work. It can often feel like it’s worth the asking price in these situations alone.
If you’re looking to buy one, Makita’s offering is a solid choice, priced at $118.98.
Angle Grinder
At some point, everyone will end up needing to cut things during automotive repair and modification, and by far the most useful tool for this job is the cordless angle grinder. While slightly heavier than a typical corded version (around 1lb in general) this is a minor inconvenience versus the convenience of being fully cordless. With the combination of cutting discs, grinding discs, and sanding flap wheels, the amount of use an angle grinder gets when working on cars can’t be underestimated.
Metabo is the new re-brand of Hitachi power tools. You can source a cordless angle grinder from them for $149.00.
Reciprocating Saw
For cutting pipework, bodywork, or thick chassis and suspension components, a reciprocating saw is practically vital. Plus, due to its typical use in awkward positions and angles when working on a car, a cordless version is very handy indeed.
Unlike most of the other tools mentioned in this feature, it is more specialized, so less likely to be needed by everyone. On top of that, it’s also one of the biggest and heaviest too, but if the jobs it is intended for are part of your own automotive lifestyle, it is going to be one of your most important tools.
The Black + Decker reciprocating saw pictured above costs $69.65.
Rotary Tool
Nothing to do with Mazdas, the smallest of all the cordless tools in this feature are these lightweight multi-purpose tools that can be used for detailed cutting, shaping, polishing, and sanding jobs. There are literally hundreds of different heads that you can fit to these small multi-speed devices, which is very useful for intricate jobs in tight spaces.
Rotary tools are light duty, so can’t directly replace tools that do a similar job, such as die grinders and angle grinders, but their adaptability makes them hugely handy to have available in your workshop ready for when required.
The Milwaukee variant pictured above is priced at $127.55.
Die Grinder
For the hardcore engine tuners among you, a die grinder is the tool of choice. Any job where you want to smooth or shape anything, which of course includes porting cylinder heads and manifolds, you need a die grinder.
Effectively a more powerful version of the aforementioned rotary tool, a die grinder can have a wide variety of tool ends fitted to them for cutting and sanding of various surfaces. One thing to bear in mind is the size of the die grinder in question. There are both large and small cordless die grinders available, and while the larger ones are certainly more powerful and have a longer battery life, for the intricate jobs they are often used for, a small one will offer you better control.
The DeWalt cordless die grinder sells for $262.32, though you can check price comparisons below:
Words by Stav.
