ARB Sahara Bar - Scratches in my fenders and front panel ???

[lcgeek]

I purchased and had installed an ARB Sahara bar on my 2001 a mere 7 years ago It was installed by a reputable local ARB dealer. After the install, I never gave it a second thought and I never scrutinized the install to check for fine fitment etc.

Fast forward to yesterday. I had a local body shop guy pull off the ARB to have it painted and moved to a different 100. After taking it off, it revealed score line in the paint all around the truck. I was not there at time of removal so I don't know exactly which part of the ARB bar was pressing against the truck.

I couple of pics below, one with bumper and one showing the scratch.

Has anyone else experienced this?
Any thoughts on it? For example, is this just part of wear and tear of 7 years of use or was there perhaps a slight fitment error on original install?

This bumper has never "bumped anything" so I know it was not from a minor mishap.

Also would appreciate if any current Sahara owners could take closeup pic of how their bar matches to truck under the rubber trim piece.

I was getting this 100 ready to sell and am a bit bummed to discover this.

Thanks
JT

[/URL]

http://s193.photobucket.com/user/lc...er/landcruiserARBscratch_zps1d833215.jpg.html

 

[bjarnep]

I have no rubber trim (and no scracthes)

 

[Wilsil]

No rubber here and no marks (from the bar anyway).

 

[perrobravo]

Looks to me like the fender was scratched during installation and the rubber strip was added as a means of masking the problem. I know my bumper (Ironman) required some wresting to get into place and could have easily banged up the metal while I tried to position it correctly.

 

[TXLX100]

Yikes. Is it like that on the passenger side as well? I wonder if that strip was stiff enough to cause abrasion over time. Looking at an ARB install manual it looks like those extrusion strips are attached to the bumper, so if it made contact with the body it's possible.

 

[r2m]

Just because you "never" bumped someone, doesn't mean that you have never been bumped!
Happens all the time in parking lots. Pull up too far and "(Bonk...) Oops! (pull back a few inches and inspect) I don't see any marks or dents. I'll just assume everything is A-Okay!" So the idiot takes off.

 

[lcgeek]

I have no rubber trim (and no scracthes)

Nice Land Cruiser. 2007 is similar but different ARB Sahara, not sure if it is apples to apples.

Looks to me like the fender was scratched during installation and the rubber strip was added as a means of masking the problem. I know my bumper (Ironman) required some wresting to get into place and could have easily banged up the metal while I tried to position it correctly.

The rubber is definitely part of the ARB install kit not some evil attempt to hide a bad install, although a bad install may indeed be the culprit.

Yikes. Is it like that on the passenger side as well? I wonder if that strip was stiff enough to cause abrasion over time. Looking at an ARB install manual it looks like those extrusion strips are attached to the bumper, so if it made contact with the body it's possible.

Yup, looks just the same on passenger. I will be with the trucks tomorrow and have a better look at how the bar lines up on the other 100 when I attempt install. Reading the ARB instructions I found online, section 15 point 2 says to slide bar into mount assembly leaving 15mm gap between the rubber extrusion and the truck body - then TIGHTEN bolts. At this point I can only guess one of three things:
1. Less than 15mm was left as gap space
2. The nuts were not TIGHT enough and bar wiggled a bit and rubber up against truck
3. The rubber extrusion fastening edge causes this over time, even if installed per instructions

I've got a note into the install shop and ARB so we shall see what they say. Thought I would throw this out to the community to see if anyone had seen this or had a close-up pic of wing area where bar meets truck.

Just because you "never" bumped someone, doesn't mean that you have never been bumped!
Happens all the time in parking lots. Pull up too far and "(Bonk...) Oops! (pull back a few inches and inspect) I don't see any marks or dents. I'll just assume everything is A-Okay!" So the idiot takes off.

You are right I can't be certain that no one has bumped me, but given there is not a spec of evidence on the bumper, nary a paint rub off, doubt it. Plus the scratch around the land cruiser is much too symmetrical and even in my opinion, with no denting at all, to be caused by the bumper being bumped by someone.

JT

 

[hoser]

The rubber trim was installed incorrectly. Should've been sandwiched between body and bumper.

 

[lcgeek]

thanks hoser. Are you saying the rubber is actually supposed to be a "cushion" between the bumper and body? I thought it was installed on top of bumper just to hide the some air gap between bumper and body for aesthetics.



Anyone out there with a close pic of their Sahara bar rubber,body connection on a 98-2002 LC?

 

[lugueto]

Im not sure if the hundy suffers of the same thing, but on my 90 series Land Cruiser the ARB would shake, a lot. The shaking is the body moving differently from the chasis. This is normal and is the reason why ARB specifies you need to leave a wide enough gap between the bar and the body.

I left mine at about 1.5cm and it never hit the body. A friend of mine in a Hilux left it at less than 1cm (about the same as a door gap) and the bar regularly hit the body.

Looking at yours, it seems it was installed a little too high and a little too close to the body.

 

[hoser]

Disregard the arrow and just look at the rubber "cushion"

 

[lcgeek]

got it - thanks hoser. I just confirmed with Erik at ARB that a line that high on the cruiser is due to wrong install. Now a trip to the installer... 7 years after the fact Wrong is wrong, hopefully they will step up.

 

[Wilsil]

The newer ones doesn't come with the rubber strip anymore.

 

[fireball]

The rubber is to fill the gap between body and bumper. It should not overlap the body.

I bought my Sahara last year Black Friday and it came with the rubber.

This isn't the best shot but the best I have on my phone right now. You can zoom in and see how it sits.

 

[lcgeek]

Thanks guys. The bumper was definitely installed wrong, and an inch too high touching truck. Blows my mind that a so-called ARB authorized shop could goof, but bothers me more that I was an idiot and didn't learn the proper install so as to inspect it earlier myself. I guess I trusted the term "professional installer" too much.

I took the LC back to the shop where it was installed, yeah 7 years ago, but thought I would see what they said. The owner while not an ARB expert, admitted it was installed wrong originally. The problem is the shop changed ownership hands (sort of - from father to son and a business name change thrown in). He said he can't honor what happened 7 years ago or do anything financially to assist with the $1k it will cost to re-shoot the fenders and front in new paint.

End of story, live and learn.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Sorry to hear - I know it's been a long time, etc, but if the owner wanted to keep your business, he would have done the right thing. As a small business owner, I would do the same, regardless of the circumstances.

 

[TXLX100]

$1,000 bucks! That's cheap advertising. I don't think you did anything wrong. You pay the pros to do something you expect it to be done right, that's what they money is for. If you choose, your word of mouth could cost the shop more than that.