Lug wrench

Another common type, sometimes called a spider wrench, is made in the shape of a cross with different sized sockets on each of the four ends.

Installing a wheel with a lug wrench thus requires a bit of rough guessing about proper tightness.

For this reason, impact wrenches should properly be used only for removing lug nuts, not for tightening them, although in practice this rule is often ignored for convenience's sake, even by professional mechanics.

Rarely, and more often with large trucks and lorries, insufficient force can lead to the nuts coming undone while in use.

This tool also has a secondary usage: it can be used to remove vehicles that are stuck in the snow by breaking up ice so it can be easily shovelled away from the drive wheels.