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. That video is bad.
Actually using rigs in the field, working on a variety as well and having experience in the situations where decent bumpers make a difference (animal strikes and vehicle collisions) all carry more.
Now that's a good come-back. I bow to actuall well respected experience.Just finshed scanning through his vid. He takes a hell of a long time to not really say very much. He also comes across like a bit of a "****" himself as he pre-emptively runs down anyone who might disagree with him. Seems like his only real purpose is to build himself up in his own eyes as he insists that anyone who puts any sort of sturdier bumper on their rig is a pouser who really should just bow down in his presence.
Being an engineer carries some degree of credibility. But having a *bit* of engineering back ground and having friends and relatives who do have the degrees and do work in their fields... I don't think they walk on water.
"freelance automotive journalist in TV, radio and print" carries none in my opinion. Been there done that. You have to bring the knowledge with you. Writing and talking about something is not how you learn.
I have seen plenty of Moose strikes with factory bumpers or some sort of minimal setup that is comparable. It is ugly. We ain't talking kangaroos here. Cattle are worse. I hit a moose myself in a '62 with minimal bumper. At 60 MPH. He turned away from me and tried to outrun me. His butt met my driver side headlight The front end sheet metal... all of it... folded and wrinkled back until it met the tire and locked up the steering at 60 MPH. I have seen a few rigs with ARBs meet moose. MUCH MUCH better outcome. Inspected one which took out an 800 pound runt at 70 MPH. It took a couple minutes to even discern any bending or warpage to the bumper. I have seen ARBS meet other vehicles... Sure if you head on a semi with a closing speed of 120 MPH, that bumper is not gonna help. But in the real world there are a LOT of slower speed mishaps where it WILL help. A LOT. Seen more than one mishap where the ARB was only scratched and the other rig was totaled. and I have seen some mangled ARBs that still prevented significant damage to the rest of the rig.
I have bumped trees on tight trails hard enough that without the ARB, I would have damaged fender, fender flare, parking light, headlight, valance, grill and hood. Corner of the bumper bounced me sideways and that was it. I have seen the joke of an OEM front bumper of an '80 allow a 10... maybe 15 mph impact to damage EVERYTHING back to and including the radiator. Add up those parts. it is expensive.
I have torn down lots of wrecked Cruisers. Including plenty of 80s and even a 100 (not a lot of those up here that have succumbed, but it has happened). A few were very obviously accidents that resulted in severe injury or worse. It will take more than this guy's claims to convince me that there is any negative for me to have that extra steel on the front of my Cruiser. Some other types of vehicles, with different design approaches to protecting you in an accident. Sure, I'll listen.
I keep referring to ARB because most of the bumpers around here are ARB. And it is still one of the very few that provide full front end coverage. Hit anything bigger than a white tail deer or a Prius and in my opinion that is important.
I actually use my '80 to push wrecked rigs around in the yard occasionally. As in pull up against the side of a rig with nasty sheet metal and four flats and shove it where I want it to be. Let me watch you do that with the OEM bumper.
Oh yeah. A good heavy duty front bumper also makes for a convenient place to mount a winch. or lights. But from the sound of this 'tard, I am just a posuer for having those on my rig anyway.
How do I say "blow me" in Australian?
Mark...
