bullbars plastic

Axel,plastic bars as far as i am concern are waste of time.They do spring back into shape after minor collision,but that is the problem because they permit damage to your vehicle.If you want maximum protection to your 4x4 go for steel.
I hit the roo last month at 60kmph and didn't even get the dent in my steel bar. If you do buy plastic bar don't park near the camp fire...:-)Also you will not be able to add too many brackets or anything else on plastic bar.

An acquaintence has a 100 series with a Smart Bar (plastic). Just looks dicky. And I agree with the previous comments. Bars are meant to protect the vehicle, which it isn't doing if if distorts and then goes back to original shape. My feeling is they are great for shopping trolleys to protect them from parking dings.

My understanding is that the poly bars are designed to provide protection for the occupants and chassis more than the front panels. They absorb the shock of a collision whereas a metal bar will transfer the shock into the chassis. Apparently the more shock absorbed by the bar means less chance of injury to the occupants. But you have to weigh that up against the possibility of having an undrivable vehicle in a remote area, if they poly bars flex enough for the radiator to suffer damage. On the other hand a collision between a large animal and a steel bar may damage the chassis but you would most likely still be able to drive the vehicle even if slowly.

I watched a video made by the company that makes the Smartbar at the last Perth 4x4 show. According to the video the Smartbar is actually less inclined to result in damage to the vehicle as it absorbs the shock and flexes back into position before any damage is done.

It was stacked up against some of the major brands in a "test" situation and indeed there was no damage done to the vehicleit was fitted too, whereas the other brands resulted in significant frontal damage.

Another point that was made was that it is more "pedestrian friendly" than standard bars as it was more forgiving than metal bars, which is open to debate, but relevent given the bad publicity bull/roo bars get.

On a humorous note, my father was a genuine bushy, travelling and camping all over the state. He had one of the first Flexibars fitted in WA put on his Holden ute back in 1977.

We went up to the Kimberlies soon after and at every pub we stopped at everyone piled out and had a good laugh at it. It was more than he could take, and as soon as we got back to Perth he had a steel bar fitted.

Seems his ego may have been more fragile than the Flexibar.

I have a smartbar fitted to my 4WD and am glad to have done so. I live in the far north of SA and travel around the area often. I have hit a few animals in the two years the smartbar has been fitted and I have had no structural damage to the vehicle, a few dents in the bar but they sort themselves out. I would recommend a smartbar especially for the city as they have been proven to be less damaging in the event of a collision with a pedestrian.I bought mine from a company in Queensland who make poly tanks and found them to be cheaper than specialist 4WD places.Safe travelling.

I have been driving four wheel drives for thirty years and have never hit an animal, and I drive past at least one mob of roos grazing by the road almost every night. Careful driving and some knowledge of animal behaviour is more use than a steel bull bar. Of my three current four wheel drives, only one has a bullbar, and it is a smart bar which provides an adequate level of protection without creating a hazard for pedestrians. Like you I spend a lot of my time in the city, and I find it easy to balance the risk of vehicle damage against the risk of a child suffering serious injuries from a metal bull bar. Only one of these can be fixed with money.