Noticed something inside my genuine JLR bullbar that’s been on the Defender 3 years this month.

I’m in a no-salt area (PNW), aside from a few mountain-pass drives (less than 5 times this thing has driven thru slush or salt) where they use magnesium chloride. The rest of the truck has no corrosion at all, but I found rust scale and accumulated muck inside the bullbar.

What caught my attn was water dripping out of the bullbar while parked, even on dry days. (so, water inside of it). Today I removed the end caps at the bottom... which now seem more likely to trap moisture than keep water out? Clearly water is getting it somewhere above, but I have no idea where. I ran a hose into the bars from below, small amounts of rusty scale (metal) and sludge came out. Photos show what drained out and what was sitting in the caps.

Current thinking is to pull the bar, flip it upside down, flush it thoroughly, and get it fully dry (may take awhile to dry although a hot summer day would solve that - so probably a summer project) . From there, coat the interior to stop further corrosion, then reinstall it.

I’m debating dumping something like POR-15 inside the tubes, swishing it around (turning it all angles and around) -- or whether an internal cavity wax or frame coating with a wand is the better approach. Prep and moisture entrapment inside the sections are the main concerns.

Also leaning toward leaving the end caps off and possibly adding small drain holes at the low points so this doesn’t repeat.

Anyway, not a huge deal but notable for those of us wanting the bullbars not to rust out. I’ve seen lots of them on Discos in junkyards that look like they rusted from the inside out.


Driver side end cap


Passenger end cap

After the hose out

Detritus

Bullbar which I still love. I’ve stood on it, hit things with it, it’s stout.

 

Most definitely add drain holes.

 

Thanks for sharing this information. Too bad water is finding its way in and causing this corrosion. Your plan to deal with this situation is spot on.

 

Look into Boe-Shield products for first treatment and then coating. I used the coating for the entire underside all components on mine. Should help with all those nuts and bolts or brackets that usually get corroded more easily.

 

I love Boe-shield T-9. Use it all the time. Good idea. !