Steel vs alloy

[Parksy]

Hi all

I was wondering what sort of bullbar is better at protecting the patrols chassis if you hit a tree or log or what ever. I'm mainly curious to those who have steel bullbars and have hit things front on fairly hard and whether this has caused damage/bends to the front chassis. I'm guessing that the alloy bars would offer a little bit of flexibility with regards to front end strikes, but I don't have any first hand experience so I'm curious to what everyone else thinks.

Cheers

Andy

[MEGOMONSTER]

Hi all I was wondering what sort of bullbar is better at protecting the patrols chassis if you hit a tree or log or what ever. I'm mainly curious to those who have steel bullbars and have hit things front on fairly hard and whether this has caused damage/bends to the front chassis. I'm guessing that the alloy bars would offer a little bit of flexibility with regards to front end strikes, but I don't have any first hand experience so I'm curious to what everyone else thinks. Cheers Andy

The alloy bars crumple like a can. Steel bars not so much.

[happygu]

Don't hit anything hard ..... best solution








I have always used Steel Bars due to the fact I have always done a lot of country / outback miles, and believe that they offer best all round package

[MEGOMONSTER]

Don't hit anything hard .....

Great advise, I'll keep that in mind, next time a tree is coming for me.

[Parksy]

I'm not really concerned with the actual bar whether it crumples or not, but the effect on the chassis. I'm curious in anyone who has had a solid front end hit with their steel bar and whether it has caused any chassis damage or whether it can take a beating.

[MudRunnerTD]

Yes I hit a tree in my GUIV. At maybe 20kmh. Was a decent hit but not enough to set the air bag off.

The factory steel bar bent into the bonnet.

An alloy would have taken a much bigger hit I reckon and crumpled further.

I pulled the bar straight with the winch and drove home. On the rack I had bent the chassis 10mm out of whack and the final bill via insurance was $9,000. Upgraded to an ARB Delux winch bar through the claim for the win.

Steel bar every day of the week!

An Alloy. Bar is Bling and decoration. No real protection in my opinion.

[MudRunnerTD]

ImageUploadedByMotorculture1409904990.328850.jpgImageUploadedByMotorculture1409905046.562575.jpg


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[MEGOMONSTER]

Yes I hit a tree in my GUIV. At maybe 20kmh. Was a decent hit but not enough to set the air bag off. The factory steel bar bent into the bonnet. An alloy would have taken a much bigger hit I reckon and crumpled further. I pulled the bar straight with the winch and drove home. On the rack I had bent the chassis 10mm out of whack and the final bill via insurance was $9,000. Upgraded to an ARB Delux winch bar through the claim for the win. Steel bar every day of the week! An Alloy. Bar is Bling and decoration. No real protection in my opinion.

Gee at 20kph, is almost a hard shunt and it bent the chassis. Wow.
So to Parksy original question, an alloy bar would cause more exterior damage but possibly less chassis damage.

[MudRunnerTD]

Gee at 20kph, is almost a hard shunt and it bent the chassis. Wow.
So to Parksy original question, an alloy bar would cause more exterior damage but possibly less chassis damage.

Yeah I hit the tree square on directly in front of the drivers side chassis end. Bang on. I think the Alloy would have crumpled further and still hit the chassis. You can see by the pics that the bar went back a fair way, maybe 6" at least. Was able to pull it out pretty easy though.

I was shocked that the chassis was bent to be honest! Went to the first panel beater and he got under the car with his point to point tool and said he couldn't fix it cause it was 10mm out and there was only 1 repairer in Geelong that still had a Rack that could handle a conventional Chassis like the Patrol.

[megatexture]

Airbags shouldn't go off till above 60-65kph in a direct hit or so the police and fire rescue told me while they were cutting a woman out of a car I t-boned after she pulled out in front of me. That hit was around 50-55 kph and pushed my tjm t13 steel bar back and punctured both tyres and damaged both rims and the new bull bar never sat the same as the chassis was bent and the holes needed to be elongated to fit.