I am looking for opinions on the various options for bumpers (front and rear) as well as sliders for my D1's. So far here is what I have come up with:
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Bumpers:
ARB - Looks Good But Doesn't Hold Up to actual use


RoverTym - The Best?


High Country Off-Road - A good concept but the finish quality leaves something to be desired


Equippe - Most expensive of the lot..


Safari Gard - ???

Or like Mike Suggests, have something custom made?? (I wouldn't even know where to begin with this though..)
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Sliders
RoverTym - The Best?


High Country Off-Road - A good concept but the finish quality leaves something to be desired

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I like the idea of the High Country Off Road Bumpers since they are made here in colorado (save on shipping, support the local rover community). I will eventually be putting a winch on.

thanks

 

I personally am a fan of the ARB. I am not sure about your cooment on it not being able to handle the abuse, I have had several on different vehicles and have never had an issue. With that being said I alwayd ended up going the custom route. I did that more because I wanted to make them my self and have something unique that no one else had.

What nice about custom is that you can incorporate all the nice things in each of those bumpers if you wanted. Things like the blender mount for the drinks and maybe other fun things to have.

Just my .02

 

I have heard that the ARB will fail if you actually have an impact.. It was designed more for brush in the outback, than running into stuff.... (again.. just what I have heard/read)

 

Since I'm in Colorado I am going with Hi Country Off Road bumpers. I also like the tire carrier set up they offer for their rear bumper that carriers 2 jerry cans and either a hi-lift or a third jerry can. I would rather pay to have the bumpers installed than pay for shipping and have to do the install myself. I don't really have a garage equipped for that kind of work. I have heard of the finish from Hi Country not being the best so I am going to check them out and see how bad it is before I make my final decision but that's how I'm leaning. I figure for a toy like my Rover is now I don't need the prettiest as long as it holds up in the real world. And supporting a local business is always good.

 

I have heard the same thing about the ARB bumper, but I wonder if that is with the airbag version and not the "real" version.

 

I have a mangled ARB front bumper that I have had for 2 years. Not strong at all though it looks good and tough. They bend easily. I would not get one again if I had it to do over again. Also as it sticks out so far it really hurts your approach angle. I have come up to steep rocks or ledges too many times and had the ARB just hit into the rocks as it juts out so far and I have had to find another approach to what I am going up. This ARB kind of acts like a giant front rock slider for me as a number of times I hit coming down a steep rock and I just scrape along on the ARB till I'm off and down. It sounds terrible screeching along the rocks but It does protect my front suspension, etc and in that way sticking out has helped me. As I live in Colorado I would probably get the High country front bumper if I did it over again. I sure like the looks of the Rover Tym though. My rock sliders came from Rovers North. Don't remember the brand. Not cheap but very tough.

 

Here is one on ebay for a D2. He might also make them D1's.

Willie

 

I guess I have never hit mine hard enough. I do know that one of the custom ones shrunk a Honda trunk from anout 2.5 feet to about 6".

Good luck on your search, post up what you get.

 

imo , no bumper will stand up to a big impact with 2 tons of truck behind it, if it does not "absorb" some impact, then all the stress is transfered to the chassis, I would rather damage the bumper than the chassis. The ARB one still looks the best by a mile!!!!!

 

Matt,
PM me your tele number and I'll call you today with a couple ideas.
Mike