Last winter, I slid on snow and ice and went into a ditch and destroyed a front bumper end cap. The high estimate by the body shop (although the end cap part itself is quite cheap) got me to thinking......why not just get a front steel winch bumper with brush bar? makes the Rover look rough and tough and would certainly protect the front end. the ARB one looks great. i'm rarely offroad, but the vulnerbility of the front end has me concerned with winter here.
Thoughts?

 

I agree 100%, but you should have probably done that with the insurance last winter (assuming you claimed). If I was in that situation it would be a no-brainer. Steel bumper with winch and tow rings.

 

Are you starting a top ten list of dumb questions? Do bears sh$t in the woods? do woodchucks chuck wood? is a bird in the hand worth two in the bush?

 

look around at other bumpers besides ARB, they are REALLY bulky and that cuts down on approach angles. As for more streamline bumpers that i would suggest the Terrafirma from Lucky 8 or Bottorf's Lil' Guy

 

also need one compatible with the whole air bag assembly issue.

 

I don't know of any steel bumpers other than arb that are airbag comparable. But if I had a d2 I would get a bumper from hard labor creek hlcfab.com

 

Steel bumpers do not disable your air bags. Even though you remove the crush cans for some installations. Air bag deployment is determined by G-force, impact and rapid slow down of inertia. You may hit something a little harder without airbag deployment but if you really need them they will deploy...just not for deer or any objects that do not count when you have a steel bumper.