plastic v steel bullbars

I was keen to have a Smartbar but they are only available for a limited range of vehicles and not mine (Suzuki XL7), so I went for a steel "nudge" bar rather than for a full-size roobar, to save on weight. The bar serves mainly as a fixing point for the Lightforce driving lights, and protection for the radiator. If the plastic bars had been available for my vehicle I would have gone for the full works.

The bottom line is a big roo will always do damage, and the only really effective protection is not to drive after dark, and to slow down when you have to. By "slow down" I mean something like 60km, not 90.

cant beat steel

i hit wallabies almost every night, agile wallabies to be exact, and have bumped a few reds on trips out to lajamanu, you cant beat steel, i have no damage to the car, just a few busted spotties, lightforce, you just have to hit them square on, dont try and swerve or you will end up in the table drain upside down. if you have barwork and you see a roo and you know you are going to hit it, hit it,

A steel B/Bar gives the best protection when one hits a roo at highway speeds.
Slowing down does help however there are times when a roo cannot be missed so just line it up and do not swerve, by all means brake to reduce impact speed.
At least with a steel bar you can get your vehicle home or to the nearest repair yard. The plastic fantastic do afford some protection . But with none then the radiator cops it and the vehicle is usually underivable.

Ask yourself this:
If I was to hit a roo at 100km/hr+ with my tribe onboard, would I want to be behind a lump of steel or a bit of plastic?

PS: Have bowled aver a 2m tall eastern grey in a 100series v8 with a steel bullbar at 125km/hr. Result; roo goo every where and a bleep tered headlight, truck still A-OK and tribe all alive albiet needing new change of jocks. The GU is too good to chase roos in though so its fitted with a 'genuine' alloy job.

Call into yuor local ARB store and ask to see the video of the comparison testing they did on Plastic vsv Alloy vs Steel.

Hi Nigel, I was looking at going the same way until I found out the price of them, they have nearly doubled in price over the last few years and for my RA Rodeo it was cheaper to get ARB Steel bar fitted than just supply of the Polybar (over $1100 to buy the poly and $1050 supply and fit Steel)

regards
Shane

I have got one on my 80 Series Cruiser and I think it is great, though (touch wood) I haven't hit anything yet. I am confident that in the unfortunate situation that if I do hit something that it will do the job.

As stated there is different types of plastic and the Smart Bar are made out of the high impact resistant type.

Also just a thought - and a bit off topic - most bullet proof vest these days are made out of kevlar and other high impact restiant products, including certain types of plastic. They are designed to stop military grade projectiles travelling at speeds inxcess of 990 meters per second and they do it well. They are certainly a lot stronger than steel and weigh less.

Be objective when veiwing promotional videos - such as the ARB one, they have a product to push and it's not a Smart Bar. Smart Bar has one as well and it shows their side of the story.

I would suggest maybe contacting Smart Bar and ask for some referneces for you to contact so that you could speak to them about their experiences.

Karl

What vehicle do you have?

Nigel,
I've cracked a big ally bar gently tapping a tree. Irrepairable! Steel used to be the only real choice. Now, I really like the plastic fantastics. I've seen the video footage which does confirm they work. I've also seen pics of the bent plastic bar after it hit a big red, and the next morning, after it had slowly repaired itself. They are available with winch mount and I reckon they're design is more 21st Century than the old steel front gate. Your local OL guy will probably have the video in store. I believe the honcho from OL is a convert .

It all comes down to how you hit things and personal choice or preference. I have had a smart bar on a commodore one tonner and hit a very big roo at reasonal pace with minimal damage ( none to vehicle, only to driving lights), same token yesterday I hit an emu at pace with 100 series factory Alloy bar (on it when I bought it!) with absolutely no damage, but a lttle blood spilt on duco. Choose what will look good on your vehicle and consider how much night driving you will be doing. In my widespread night time driving experience, if you have reasonably good quality driving lights (brighter the better ) most of the wildlife tend to sit and watch rather than jump in front of you. For absolute comfort for your safety if doing a lot of night time driving go for a steel one. Have a steel on RV Landcruiser Ute, have hit numerous roos etc with minimal damage. Best to try and avoid them though. It's not as if you go out trying to hit things in you pricely possesion. My two bobs worth. Regards Kirsten NSW

Some interesting comments on this one. Team Poly in Adelaide are the only maker and supplier of woven poly bars in the country. If you want a measure of success then consider the fact that Elders has standardised on their product nationally for their vehicles after considerable research. So they are good.

The big question is why you would want a bar in the first place. If you don't travel at night, so become at risk to animal strike then why bother going to the expense.

If you consider you need one then the poly bars are very good at returning to original form after an impact. Alloy wont and given I am on my second alloy bar then I can vouch for that fact. Your comment on the damaging vehicles is directly dependant on the impact itself and when measured against both alloy and steel the poly bars are actually better.

If you have a winch then there are very few poly bars that will be suitable. If no winch then you have a reasonable choice.

If you select a bar other than poly and are looking to have it repaired then steel is the way to go as they are much easier to repair in remote areas. MIG and TIG are still not that common in some places.

Mitsubishi offer an OE bar made by team poly already so they have put their faith in the technology along with several large scale fleets in Australia.

Boils down to two choices. Don't drive at night and avoid the issue almost completely or you have steel bars that are easier to repair if damaged or poly bars if you don't need a winch

Challenging but it is almost black and white

Regards

RobA