Bullbar, Smart Bar or Alloy

Mark, I was initially leaning towards the Smart Bar but I have some concerns as to its longevity. ie UV resistance, fading over time and appearance after scratching and abrasions etc. They seem to be well made but they are plastic and may not fare well over time. Fitment also involves considerable cutting and removal of the front bumper assembly, whereas the alloy one requires removal of a small section of the grill only.

purely for cosmetic reason i beg of you to not purchase a smart bar ??
Cheers jet

Made from essentially the same material as rain water tanks and plastic fuel tanks. Almost bullet proof.
There would be no concern whatever re UV and scratches could be removed if that was a concern.
I would have one.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

Wot Peter said. Also the same stuff as a snorkel.

Longevity? We have plastic boats. They will be heirlooms. There was university data and impact testing on the net a while back. It put forward a pretty strong case for the smart bar. The new stealth one doesn’t even look too bad.

"The Smart Bars are pretty good as long as you like black"

They are available in white as well. Other vehicles have a wider range of colours.
See this page.

Haha, good one Gronk. They certainly lack something in the 'looks' department and I would be really concerned about the crap I would have to cop from my mates - it would be unbearable.

Steel for me.

Dusty

If I wanted the looks of a Smart Bar for my Ranger I would have just bought a BT50 and not fitted a bar at all.

ECB Alloy for me. I don't drive at night and if it does get bent, so what, I'll just get it replaced as it most likely did its job of protecting the cooling system better than nothing at all.

Phil, I have done millions of K's across Australia and all I will say is, don't be to sure about travel and roos. This year in my 4x4 I hit 2 roos at around 10 to 11 in the morning, one in Qld (can't remember where) and another a couple of weeks ago near North Star in northern NSW. Those roos were on a suicide missions and completed what they wanted to do.

I have footage from the truck dash cam of 100 plus roos coming across a road at midday, big greys and reds doing the same with pigs, emus and camels.

I know the smart bar isn't the best looking jigger but it is very functional and ticks the boxes for what it is designed for, it won't stop a big beast but nothing else will, even truck bull bars have problems with the big buggers.

Somehow in my 4 line reply (half with tongue in cheek) I came across as someone with no experience. I didn't know I had to state experience level to express an opinion in this case.

So, in around 45 years with many long distance trips, work and private related, I have come across most animal situations except for Camels. That includes quite a few day and night runs on the old Stuart Hwy from Pimba to the NT border when it was still dirt. I did used to prefer night trips at times but these days I would only do it as a last resort to finish a days drive. I have hit a number of roo's front on and all were with an alloy bar and suffered no damage to speak of but that was with my previous 4x4 that I bought in 1979 and finally got rid of 18 months ago. The only damn animal that damaged the car was a Dingo that went under and bent a steering rod.

While I have no experience of the Smart Bar with animal strikes my view of them is the same as with some of the alloy and steel ones and just relates to appearance. So with my happy experiences with a previous alloy bar I chose same for the Ranger and with my now driving style and with van towing I've so far avoided hitting anything, but with a few close calls.

Everyone is entitled to express an opinion based on their own experiences. Personally though I feel the only wrong choice for long distance trips is no protection at all. But that's just based on my experience.

Phil, didn't mean to challenge or offend you, I was just stating the fact roo strikes and other animal strikes can occur at any time.

Hi Phil

Like Eagle has just stated above, animal strikes can and will happen at any time of the day.

Our last roo strike happened this year while on the Duncan Road in the Kimberley at 1pm in the afternoon. For some reason there were lots of active Roos at that time of the early afternoon and even though we slowed right down, there is always one that will come from know where and straight in front of the car.

Lucky for us we hit him dead centre and not a side panel, as the only damage to my ARB steel bar war a bent front number plate. This is the second time this bar has hit Roos on this vehicle and if it was an alloy bar, would have been bent like a banana.


Cheers




Stephen

Eagle, where did I somehow lead you to believe that I didn't know roo's are also about in daytime because I can't find the evidence?

There's Buffalo, Horses, Donkey's, Roo's, Wallaby's, feral Pigs, Crocs, Emu's, Dingo's, Sheep, Cattle, Fox's, Wombat's and many more.

From my experiences, some of that wide variety of animals are mainly a night issue, some day and some both. Driving appropriately minimises the risk but never removes it completely. The worst are the 2 legged Donkey's, day and night and sometimes in vehicles of all sizes.

You don't even have to leave some Metro areas to be at high risk of animal issues. I doubt that many here have encountered feral Buffalo in suburban streets as we've had around the Top End. At one time we woke up one morning to find their hoof prints surrounding our house in the fresh top soil. That's how common they were and we had to deal with them and many other animals on a regular basis. Once while headed home at 3am after late work I came to a stop on a roundabout with one standing there on the road. It was just 50 metre's from a Coles Supermarket. Nhulunbuy still has Buffalo issues.

4wd action magazine tested a range of bull bars a few years ago by swinging a 44 gallon drum of concrete into them while mounted on a Hilux front.

Results were Tuff bar, followed by Smartbar, TJM, ARB, the others were a waste of time.

Myles