Elliotw44

997 3RS owner, sharing my thoughts. I agree $3,500 I'd buy in a second and I just ordered a set of 5 lug wheels to remove center lock from my car. For me 4k or less Id likely do it. Anything over that its just too much I'd rather pay for 5 lug swap and just not deal with the centerlocks.

One of the tough things against a tool like this is I would say a lot of owners of CLs wont ever want to change wheels themselves. You need an owner who owns an expensive CL Porsche and is also willing to tinker with it themselves. I wonder how many CL owners ever change their own wheels. I wouldn't be surprised if it was less 50%. That would be an interesting data point for Hytorc.

pet2065

$3-4k - yes, $5k - ugh, $6k - :-(

But I get it, it really makes the PIA process of a center lock wheel as easy as working with 5-lug wheels and an impact tool / torque wrench.

I don't think twice about removing wheels on any of my other vehicles but I do on my 992 TTS.

Value is a funny thing...cost of a new Porsche is palatable - but $5k+ for a tool to work on it...

The long term investment when having multiple center lock vehicles (concurrently or consecutively), or considering how often you remove center lock wheels, makes sense.

hsb1001

2 of my buddys use the Milwaukee electronic impact gun on their GT3's and Cup Cars, I recall its 1200 bucks and they are using every other weekend at the track on their cars which seems to work well. The milwaukee looks the same as above with LED / Bluetooth connections and configurable, Ive used it when helping one of them change wheels quickly.

I don't get these expensive tools when other exist much cheaper.

CustomPerformanc

I'm only 5 minutes into the video, but they have already answered most of my questions (and a few others have listed above). The castle configuration on their proprietary CL nuts gives the gun something to push on to apply the torque which seems like a great idea. That's something you don't get when using a standard impact gun for this application (thus the need for the torque multiplier). They also mention it relieves the side load that's applied by the standard breaker bar/torque wrench set up. I sort of question whether that's really a problem or not though. In theory I agree with that being helpful, but it would be interesting to see a longevity study done on wear and tear from using this tool versus the traditional tool. It definitely sounds logical to say it prevents wear and tear, I'm just not sure if that wear and tear is enough to be an issue until the 100th wheel swap. I'm kind of in agreement with everyone else above. Get the price down sub $4K and you will probably sell quite a few. Last time I removed my front wheel to patch a nail in the tire I recall dreading breaking out all the crap to take the wheel off (breaker bar, torque wrench, wood clamp to apply the brakes, centerlock tool from the frunk, etc.).

bluehorseshoe

After hundreds of uses I'm perfectly content with the RENNtorq tool, and would hesitate to use an aftermarket centerlock nut. This is overkill.

twk63

+1

I’m a buyer at $3,500 but not higher

robmypro

The use of an aftermarket centerlock nut was the deal breaker for me. Probably an overreaction but that is a part i am very leery going aftermarket.

Money2536

It will. I talked to them about having a program where they email you a label, send it in for calibration, and they return it. I think that would be a few hundred bucks, maybe a little less. Once a year is what Hytorc recommends.

JC Lacayo

hsb1001; this the one ya'll used?:

The Milwaukee M18 FUEL 1in. D-Handle High Torque Impact Wrench Kit with One-Key™ is the worlds first cordless 1in. High Torque Impact Wrench. The Powerstate™ brushless motor delivers up to 2000 ft./lbs. of Nut-Busting Torque and 1500 ft./lbs. of fastening torque

hsb1001

I will check this weekend when at the track, it looks similar but I don't recall the side handle unless its an add on. Seen so many Race Teams/DE folks etc all use the cheaper Milwaukee tool on center locks.

I just don't get thousands of dollars on something that can be done for far less, just like a buddy of mine that spend 12k on a hub alignment setup and we told him he could have got the same setup for 4k that did the same thing but a different brand.

GrantG

The problem with that is it says “Impact Wrench”. You can’t use an impact wrench on the Centerlock bolts - the hammering is forbidden.

Real Centerlocks like those on Cup cars are designed for Impact - the street cars specifically forbid it. The parts are totally different (racing centerlocks are designed to be beaten up and replaced frequently - the street cars' version are not and have the special locking mechanism in the center).

WP0

Personally, I would only use something like this to loosen the nut, and never to tighten it: stick with the manual torque wrench for tightening...but I don't see how using an impact wrench would make a difference for loosening.

Wind911

Is Milwaukee gun an impact type gun?

Cup car center lock nut can be used with an impact gun. Cup service menu indicates replace the nut after 6 hours of service life. Race teams probably stretch that interval a littler longer.

street center locks/hubs are of totally different design construction and Porsche says never to be used with an impact.

GrantG

It will be worse on loosening - takes more force to break loose than tighten. The high force hammering will quickly destroy the centerlock bolts (and they aren't cheap and disposable like the Cup version) and the potential damage to the locking mechanism makes it very unsafe.

WP0

Do you really think it would make a difference loosening with an impact wrench? As it is, I bounce on my 4-5 ft breaker bar for a minute or two to loosen the centerlock nut / bolt. Couldn't a fraction of a second of higher force be possibly more effective? I suppose we need a mechanical stress engineer to explain the differences.