I prefer impact tools when possible. I find much less opportunity to strip parts and smash fingers. I think the official tool might be nice once the part has been loosened once. I've had my fan off 3-4 times and the first time was twice as hard as the rest.

For other people wondering should they bother with fan removal for the likes of thermostat replace job: absolutely. It makes it twice as easy overall and 1/4 the difficulty of squeezing through the small space left. Once you "knock" the fan off once you'll be surprised how easy that was and how much easier anything else is behind/near the fan.

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2011 E70 • N55 (me)
2012 E70 • N63 (wife)