bullbar for AU

[turquoise]

Hey guys,

I'm well aware of the arguements for and against bars, but what I'm after is retailers in the melb area, anyone had any experience?

Had a quick look through the site sponsors area but couldn't really come up with anything.

Cheers!

[mik]

there is a 4wd accessorie place in mahoneys rd thomastown near hughes pde intersection(ARB i think), i`ve got a feeling ford did an integrated type bullbar option for the au, but i could be wrong, someone might shed some light on this.

[Bushbasher]

Yes Ford did a factory bar but it's a bit flimsy for my money. Have a look at a Team Poly Smartbar. They come up on Ebay cheap quite often. I picked one up dirt cheap and with freight it was less than $400 and I fitted it in my driveway in a couple of hours. Great bar that's very light and looks good on the car too.


Bushbasher

[OffRoadFalcon]

Our AUII Futura wagon has a roo bar (I'm pretty sure it's made by ford). Is this the bar you meant Bushbaser?

[Bushbasher]

SNAP!!

yep, that's the factory bar.

Here's our well used wagon with the Smartbar -





Bushbasher

[OffRoadFalcon]

Personally I prefer the bar we have... lol dunno why. I'd prefer the smart bar in white, but, hmmm, dunno. I would've thought the bar we have would be stronger... hit any roos with yours? I wouldn't call the factory one flimsy, looks good, feels very secure and strong. Only way to really test it is to hit something... pulling it to see if it'll move certainly didn't work... lol I was curious and tried it after reading your post.

Nice AUII Futura wagon, love 'em in white.

[Bushbasher]

It's not about whether it moves when you grab it sport, it's about it's ability to deflect the wildlife on impact without bending back onto the front of the car. The factory bar may look ok but it has relatively thin pipework and no real vertical posts for rigidity so when a roo hits it it'll be more susceptible to folding back onto the bonnet or wrapping round and into the headlights/guards, then once there it stays there jambing the bonnet shut or whatever. Also the bumper section once hit will likely bend and damage the plastic bumper behind it then the whole lot would need to be changed . A full on after market bull/roo bar has thicker piping and vertial posts that make it a whole lot less likely to bend backwards on impact but you pay for that with the extra weight hanging off the front. The Smartbar is a good compromise as it's is strong enough to protect the front of the car from most things and also flexible which actually helps soak up any impact which causes less damage to the car and less damage to whatever you hit, then it just springs back into place, plus it's light. It's so light you can carry it around with one hand..... and yes, I've hit a roo with my smartbar, although a relatively small one, the roo just bounced off and the bar sprang back into place with nothing more than a jolt no worse than going over a speed hump in a car park.

Bushbasher

[FGII-XR6]

those smart bars are almost buletproof hit them and the gradually return to the original shape ( an hour or 2) they will flex when you hit them and that is a plus in preventing your car being damaged

[OffRoadFalcon]

Hmm okay. Only ever hit one roo with it, nothing really happend, probably about a medium sized roo as well. Probably only hit it at about 60 km/h, were going about 90, but Dad saw it and on went the brakes...

But you've got me thinking... I'll probably buy our AUII Futura from my parents so I'm thinking whether to keep the existing bar (which I do like quite a lot) or get a bigger heavy bar, or a smartbar... the smart bar would have to be white... lol.

[FGII-XR6]

the Smart bars come in a range of colours including white

Originally Posted by CarsAreMyLife

Hmm okay. Only ever hit one roo with it, nothing really happend, probably about a medium sized roo as well. Probably only hit it at about 60 km/h, were going about 90, but Dad saw it and on went the brakes...

But you've got me thinking... I'll probably buy our AUII Futura from my parents so I'm thinking whether to keep the existing bar (which I do like quite a lot) or get a bigger heavy bar, or a smartbar... the smart bar would have to be white... lol.

[Mr Hardware]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

the Smart bars come in a range of PEELING colours including white

fixed for you

[Bushbasher]

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

fixed for you

WRONG!!

They are molded in the various colours. I have personally seen black, white, charcoal and red and I believe you can order a couple of others as well.


Bushbasher

[FGII-XR6]

they are not painted the plastic is in the colour you order no peeling

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

fixed for you

[Eleanor]

Team Poly generally don't sell to the public. If you're after a Smart Bar talk to someone at an Opposite Lock 4WD store.

[Bushbasher]

Here ya go, brand new and less than half the retail price.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/AU-FALCON-BUL...item2a1046b4cf

Used ones come up all the time. I picked up mine for $50 but by the time I paid freight and bought a mounting kit it was a couple of hundred. Make sure the mounting kit is included and make sure it's secured to the bar properly before shipping. Bastid freight company lost the kit with mine so I had to buy a new one.

Bushbasher

[Mr Hardware]

hmm, well the cab we had must have had a grey one that had been painted black after the fact. looked bad man.

[Mack 6]

I had a team poly, painted it from white to meteorite to match, looked great for about 4 months til peel time. rumour has it that team poly had a special adhesive primer which is the only thing that will allow a bar to be painted without peeling. Not one spraypainter in adelaide had the stuff.... too expensive to make it worthwhile apparently.
Oh, I do have it sitting here at home unwanted! Make an offer, just needs a cleanup and fitting.

[turquoise]

Mack, check PMs.

[turquoise]

I've seen the factory fitted ones getting about, sorry to whoever's a fan but I think they look terrible. In the photo above it looks like it could have been photoshopped on, and in the flesh I still think they look photoshopped on!

It's like they'd built the entire front end, about to roll it out and have thought "hang on, we offered a factory fit bar didn't we? ****. Hey Jimmy, get the jigsaw out, and do we have any steel tubing in the parts bin?"

The full replacement bars look heaps better, rather than a hole cut in the existing bumper as an afterthought....

[mik]

i don`t mind the factory ones, that said anything that stops the majority of damage from a roo is good, i made a steel one(kenworth style ) for an old vc valiant about 20 years ago for a trip to nt, its nice to have that piece of mind, good for spotties and water bag too.