Plastic Bull Bars??
 

I have not idea what to say...I suppose you can all judge for yourself :D

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Mike

deer activists ploy to save more deers??!?!?

LOL I have not idea...they say they are safer than metal and hurt less pedestrians....

You gonna start selling those? :D :laugh:

Sure, group buy...who wants one!! ;) :D

*raises hand*
spam this thread!!!!!!!!

I wouldn't dismiss them right off. They look pretty good visually for one thing, although that might be of no concern to the more hard-core wheelers among us.

I can think of a few possible pluses and minuses.

Pluses: they don't rust; they appear to tolerate big impacts pretty well, so they probably just bounce back from small dents unlike metal; scratches may be less visible if the color is in the material; plastics can be made into different shapes a lot better if you're concerned about aesthetics with more rounded newer vehicles.

Minuses: even if they are UV resistant, they may get brittle over time; don't know much about the plastic used, but some bend to a certain point, then suddenly fracture completely; may be harder to adapt - probably can't just start drilling holes anywhere you please and you certainly can't just weld things on.

Alan

I am not saying that they are bad at all.....to be quite honest, I really do not know what to think of them....:D

polymers can be designed to be stronger than metal. my dad works with an aerospace company and says that we may someday see the use of plastics in engine blocks.

I don't know how they'd hold up to winching, but I don't think they're a bad thing at all...

Hummm.... this is an interesting item that has some merit I think.

What they say makes sense if I recall my college physics correctly... in a head on hit, the plastic would have a elastic collision dispersing the force of the blow through out the bumper as it deforms... This won't happen with a steel bar (an in-elastic collision)... the force is transferred through the bar to the occupant/frame/other vehicle...

This bar would be good for the discriminating Road Kill Gourmet who only likes his/her meat bruised not splatted. :P

I think the cool thing about them is they are Airbag compatible. They also look pretty cool.

My .02
Dr. Z

argh, I just finished physics and I never want to step foot in that class again.

These are interesting, wonder how they hold up. Wonder what the pricing is on these since they say that they are "more affordable than metal bull bars."

I was working in Sydney, Australia 2 years ago and they are having a big heated debate over the bullbar issue down under. The big metropolitan areas want to ban them as they say that the bars kill too many pedestrians. I can't really figure out the logic though. I think if a car even without a bumper was going 30 mph, chances are that the person you hit will die. The thing that the opponents are saying is that the bullbar forces the person under the vehicle instead of over the hood. Anyways, I don't agree with the opposition because I could never find a real credible study if bullbars kill more than just a bumper. They always seemed to compare cars with trucks instead of trucks with bullbars vs trucks without bullbars. This way they could make it look worse for the trucks. The whole plastic issue came out as a compromise. The problem is that you need real bullbars when you get out of city limits and are in the outback. What are you supposed to do when you get back to the city, change your bumper from steel to plastic? The roadtrains (big trucks) deliver goods and drive across the continent to deliver them and the cities want to ban them from having bars. Obviously, they are fighting it since most of their transit time is spent in the outback where Roo stikes are a very real problem. Funny thing is that Australians make some really cool off-road gear and now they want to ban it. This fight I think will be dragged out over a long period of time. Someone from Australia correct me if I am wrong.

I'm interested in how they would stand up to winching to. I imagine it would be just fine. Another advantage would be the weight savings, no need to upgrade suspension or crank tortion bars when adding a winch up front and much less of a sag effect.

to all you fellow Seattle area hippies....It's recycleble, you can put it out front with your 2liter and gatorade bottles on recylcing day :eek:

yeah i dont know what that is about danger to ped. getting hit with either one would be pretty painful. haha....... yeah i dont know about those things.

i think you'd kill some one just as much going 50mph with a plastic bull bar than with a metal one! :D

Interesting concept but I took issue with one of thier stats....

"Real life proof

has clocked up 8 million kilometres on our fleet of Hino trucks. During this period there have been more than 100 front-end collisions with no vehicle occupant injuries and no costly vehicle repairs."

That works out to an front end every 80000km which is abismal for a fleet business.

News From South Oz
 

I donno... 80,000km for you average head on might make sense when you think about those trucks plying the unpaved roads in the Aussie Outback. There is a lot of stuff to hit out there aside from other vehicles... (see this news story for a friend of mine's home town):

http://whyalla.yourguide.com.au/imag...pgs/197340.jpg

Motorists run foul of curious emus
Stephanie Venning
Tuesday, 10 December 2002
Whyalla, SA News

A staggering increase of native animals on the roads is leaving drivers fuming.

In wet years, the winter rains keep the kangaroos and emus away from the roads.

This year's dry winter is forcing the animals to come closer to town and to the edges of the highway looking for water and dew.

Clayton's Auto Refinishers manager Glen Clayton said the busiest time for kangaroo and emu collision jobs was November through April.

During winter one kangaroo collision a fortnight is typical but this winter there has been four or five a week.

Emu collisions have also increased from one or two a year to five in one fortnight during mid winter and eight for the year to date.

Drivers must keep a keen eye on the road, especially during Christmas travelling.

Commuting to Adelaide or Roxby Downs requires extra care.

Crash repairer Glen Clayton said 70 percent of the cars he repaired were damaged between Whyalla and Port Augusta.

The cars involved always had front-end damage and several had badly broken windshields.

Although no injuries had been reported from these collisions, much damage could still be done to vehicles.

Damage could be more extensive if the collision occurs at speeds greater than 80km/hr.

Due to punctured radiators and motor damage, these cars may require towing.

Mr Clayton said the cost of repairs for kangaroo damage this year have ranged from $200 for a broken headlight to $9500 for one unlucky Ford Escape owner, bringing the average to about $3000.

NOTE: $1.00 Aussie Dollar = roughly $0.60 USD (I think)

The smartbar has been available for awhile and they are very well made and strong. A big advantage is they can also be moulded to suit the exact shape of the front etc.

They usually remove the bottom valance and then this section is moulded into the bar so when bolted up they look trick. They are'nt designed for winches but it wouldn't be hard to fit a dedicated winch cradle.

Yes, there are some dip˟˟˟˟˟˟ that want to ban bullbars but they have no show. I think the Govt recognises there would be hell to play if this happened. But an Austalian Standard has been developed that means all bars must now not have any sharp protrusions etc etc and be of a design that they angle back towards the screen.

No idea when this will come into force or if it will be retrospective but if so it will take years to have everyone comply, if at all.

As far as the truck 80,000 front end collisions comment, this would not mean with other cars but animal strikes, eg roos and emus.

I have lost count on how many roos I have hit in my 4Runner and previous utes etc. Despite what the greenies want you to believe there aint no shortage of roos in OZ, LOL. Unfortunately, like the other article indicates roos have a terrible tendency to sit just off the road at nights and just as you are about to pass them, out they come and whammo. In some areas after a few miles if it is evident there is a roo problem you either stop for the night or go real real slow. Problem is in many areas there is no sign until you hit one and its impossible to travel slow everywhere for mile after mile. It becomes a chance you have to take.

Emu's are thick as planks and will run alongside for miles if you let them and then their brain says " I wonder if I can get across in front of this dude right NOW".

Most roads trains travel at night and there's noway they can even think about stopping so they have monstrous bullbars. The name bullbar is actually derived from road trains hitting wild bulls years ago in the outback regions, so they made huge steel bars for their trucks, hence the name bullbars.

Its not only bulls, roos or emus they/we may have to contend with but also the ocassional camel in some areas. On my trip home from across OZ in November I came over a small hill and
spread all over the road was the remains of a huge camel. A road train had hit it that night. Man what a mess. Blood and guts everywhere.

Unfortunately I also hit an Emu on the way over. It just came running out of nowhere at the last minute. You can only try braking but never swerve otherwise it could end up being a lot messier for all parties.

JD