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]

4894348944


Sent from my iPhone using Motorculture mobile app

[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.

[dads tractor]

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. Sorry airbags in a 4x4 are a lot of shite from personal experience no1 son swerved to miss a dog got crossed up locked up and torn the front diff out of a tojo tray (total write off) no2 son was hit by a out of control trailer that took out his front diff engine mounts 1 side and also total write off and there mates have had similar accidents around the 80 to 100 k mark and the air bags have not activated.

[Clunk]

I've no experience in this but the way I look at it is these Patrols of ours have no real crumple zone, adding a big strong heavy steal bull bar has now eliminated what little crumple zone and seeing as it's attached to the chassis, damage to the chassis may be greater but damage to panels may be limited.
Aluminium being a softer material may act as more of a crumple zone, causing more damage to panels but less to the chassis........... Like I said, I have no experience and am quite happy for someone who knows about metals and stresses and such like to tell us more about it

[sooty_10]

Do you think I could get this straightened out?? ;)

[sooty_10]

Personally I'm glad it was a steel bullbar. Although the front of the bar doesn't look too bad the back of it and the mounts are all bent up. This was a fairly solid impact of a Mercedes bouncing of the bullbar at approx 70km/h, I was doing < 10km/h. I had just started a right turn when he shot through the red.

*note the end of the chassis sticking out the bottom left of the bullbar.

[sooty_10]

And this is what happens when you try to have a head on with steel.

[sooty_10]

I do have another bullbar which had a little mishap into a tree out in the bush. Didn't feel like much of an impact. But did push the bar back into the bonnet a little and smashed my drivers headlight. :( ill grab a pic of the bar tomorrow, but again I was thankful it was steel, would have hit at a similar 20km/h that mudrunner did. It hit right in front of the drivers headlight on the side wing, as far as I know the chassis is still as straight as it was. Haven't had it measured though, replacement bar fitted up no dramas. The bullbar simply pushed back on the slotted bolt holes and the mounts (airbag compatible) compressed a little bit.

[happygu]

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



Andy.

If protecting the chassis is the most important thing to you, then I would seriously look at the Plastic SmartBar, which deforms when hit, but will go back to its normal shape after a while - and pretend like nothing has ever happened. Really good for small bumps - but not as good at protecting the body of the car

[threedogs]

a 4x4 with an alloy bar ran up the butt of my Troopy once out on the tracks.
the alloy bar on the 80s had to be cut off to enable the driver to continue, damage bill was $6000.
No damage to my home made bar, except a few weeks later my swing away fell off.
The owner of the 80s fixed it for me, to go alloy you'll need to double the thickness.
Most 4x4 with alloy bars will come from QLD and coastal areas

[Clunk]

a 4x4 with an alloy bar ran up the butt of my Troopy once out on the tracks.
the alloy bar on the 80s had to be cut off to enable the driver to continue, damage bill was $6000.
No damage to my home made bar, except a few weeks later my swing away fell off.
The owner of the 80s fixed it for me, to go alloy you'll need to double the thickness.
Most 4x4 with alloy bars will come from QLD and coastal areas

What damage was done to the chassis?????? The topic isn't about what bar is stronger, it's about what bar will cause the most/least damage to your chassis in an accident

[sooty_10]

The way I see it, if the force is enough to bend and twist the steel of a solid bulbar and it's mounts (which give reasonable crumple) then the damage to the chassis is going to happen regardless if there is a softer alloy bar. The alloy bar will simple crush like a tin can and then more of the energy is going to be transferred into your chassis....imo.

[Clunk]

Parksey, reckon this could be a question for the likes of ARB & Ironman

[Parksy]

Thanks all for your posts. A few mixed responses but everyone generally swear by the steel bars it seems.

Clunk, not a bad idea. They would probably have done extensive testing on their range.

[megatexture]

Thanks all for your posts. A few mixed responses but everyone generally swear by the steel bars it seems.

Clunk, not a bad idea. They would probably have done extensive testing on their range.

The only problem is you have to put up with a turd bolted to your car lol

[Family4x4]

I have a GQ with a steel bar I have hit several roos of different sizes at varying speeds and have had no damage. I cant say the same for the roos.

[taslucas]

My gq came with an alloy bar fitted and I believed it was probably stock from factory. One night I snapped a small spar off (about 250mm diameter) and the alloy bar, while being pretty mashed, held up ok I thought. The only damage other than the bar was a dent where the aerial bracket had hit the bonnet. When I removed the alloy bar I saw that the chassis rail openings had been damaged but it was not possible that it was from my hit (because of where the alloy bar mounted). So the chassis rail damage was done prior to my alloy bar. Not sure if it was from an alloy or steel but one thing is for sure that it would have to be a massive hit to damage the chassis rails and if you hit something that hard with an alloy bar you'd probably wreck the entire front of your vehicle....
My opinion is that steel is far better for the type of driving I do.

[threedogs]

What damage was done to the chassis?????? The topic isn't about what bar is stronger, it's about what bar will cause the most/least damage to your chassis in an accident
way too many IFs?? what speed ,what angle.
straight on will been entirely different to a shot from 45 degrees
and then you have a rear prang, you would need to see the destruction tests.
TBH I think they only test the bar not the attachment point,
EG an early GQ that's spent it life in salty water would not stand up to any test, like I said too many ifs