[Dave]

It’s still BS’ing them, just using a tool to do so. Major auto manufacturers do not advocate such tests, rather it was the AMRA which is comprised of parties with a vested interest in brake fluid change profits, people from Monro Muffler and Brake, Goodyear, Just Brakes, Jiffy Lube, Midas, Pep Boys, etc.

The fact is that modern braking systems are fairly sealed and don’t need fluid changes often at all. The typical system can go 100K mi or over 10 years on the factory fluid. It’s cheating customers to flush the fluid based on copper content if there is no indication of spongy braking.

Typically brake component problems significant enough to cost more than regular brake fluid changes would be replacing the hard lines because they rusted from the outside.

The average person who doesn’t regularly change their fluids is in the vast majority and there is no brake fluid epidemic ongoing. It’s a scam until you have evidence of a brake system failure and at that point it makes sense to flush the lines.

All the above assumes passenger vehicles on public roads, driven sanely. If you are a driving it like you stole it, you’re going to wear everything out faster, brake system included and will have a lot more repair expenses than everyone else.

[Dave]

This does not make sense. Trying to turn a fastener the wrong way has nothing to do with the right tools. If you’d had an impact driver and tried to turn it the wrong way, you might have been even worse off.

Further you don’t want an impact driver. Impact driver is for production speed, typically fasteners around 100 ft lbs or less, not just two hard to get off bolts which would benefit from a right angle impact wrench.

You probably couldn’t get a straight impact wrench into that space unless a stubby air tool or right angle.

If your wrench slips, it’s a sign you need more precise wrenches or sockets, or your bolt was so severely rusted that you tried to use the next size up (or standard instead of metric, or the last person who touched those bolts rounded them off). An impact driver or wrench will do nothing to solve those problems.

Now the odd question “best… at Harbor Freight”. Why? That’s like saying tell me the best of the worst which makes no sense unless you live in a remote isolated area and Harbor Freight is all there is, that you don’t live in a part of the world where Amazon delivers either, nor any other major tool chains or websites.

As mentioned by JeepersCreepers, you didn’t state whether you are looking for an air or electric tool. No idea what your friend meant by universal that twists in different angles, that would be an attachment bought separately, has nothing to do with which wrench to pick.

Frankly I think you need a good quality new socket set instead. Brake caliper bolts are not particularly difficult to get off with the right socket (or torx, hex head, etc depending on vehicle) and ratchet.

The “2 nuts” part is also a little odd without knowing what vehicle since the caliper is generally held on with bolts not nuts and not common for them to be reverse threaded. I would consider getting shop manual for your vehicle, doing some Youtube video searches for specific repair jobs, and asking in an owners’ forum for that vehicle. Odd things that deviate from standard practices like having reverse threads, would be mentioned in details related to that repair.

Sorry I didn’t answer your question but I think it was the wrong question, lol.

[Dave]

TLDR; Get the 600 ft-lb.

First, I suspect you are referring to Impact Wrenches, not drivers. A wrench is set up to accept a socket rather than a bit.

Second you did not mention your location or the model #s under consideration but the ft-lb figures you listed are dated, now there are 1400 ft-lb and 700 ft-lb, and some brushless models if those aren’t.

For once in a while, rare uses I might buy a brushed model as a closeout if cheaper, it would be powerful enough for the purposes of passenger automotive DIY jobs and you’d be unlikely to run down the battery one vehicle at a time. Production pro automotive repair on the other hand, if you use a tool more often it can justify the greater cost.

1300 ft-lbs is overkill for working on cars. Commercial trucks, bridges, etc is more the target market of such a tool. You will also need top shelf, expensive impact sockets to get anywhere near that without failures. Yes that much torque or even 600 ft-lbs will shear some fasteners off, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. With such stuck fasteners, you have to evaluate the value of the fastener (or rarity) vs your time. Do prep one with penetrant spray, do heat it with a torch or induction to help remove it, but ultimately a stuck fastener either has to come out or shear off then be beat out. If it takes that much torque then it takes that much. Some fasteners can’t be saved and some shouldn’t be if that corroded.

On the other hand, blind holes where you’d need an extractor if it shears off, I would not use an impact wrench at all on those until broken free as they are much more of a PITA to remove than the little extra effort to manually break them free THEN use an impact wrench or driver.

The 600 ft lb version or even lower if a smaller size, is going to be more versatile for passenger automotive uses. While we can’t guess how much rust will increase torque requirements, generally there is nothing on a passenger automobile requiring anywhere near 600 ft lbs. Getting a job done faster with higher torque, doesn’t really apply in this case. It’s not a production environment where you’re doing nothing other than unfastening dozens of fasteners in a row with no other activities in between. We’re talking a single-digit # of seconds difference per fastener on one automotive repair at a time.

The other issue is “accidents”. Suppose you were to put a nut on and accidentally left the 1300 ft lb monster on high mode. You might irreversibly damage the fastener, even if it seems to go on and hold, it could fail later in use of the vehicle or fail the next time someone tries to remove it. Monkeys at shops who use impact wrenches wrenches to put tires back on instead of finishing with a torque wrench, I’m looking at you. Several times I’ve had wheel lug studs break off during difficult removal because they were far overtorqued!

You don’t need 1300 ft-lbs and it’ll just be heavier, bulkier, and more expensive.

[Author]

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