By Art on Monday, August 13, 2001 - 05:56 pm: Edit

I want to put either an ARB or RTE bumper on my 93' LWB. Wondering which one would be a better buy, and give me better performance with less worries.

By Perrone Ford on Monday, August 13, 2001 - 06:47 pm: Edit

In truth both bumpers are good. If you have any designs or rock-crawling or approach angle is important to you, then the RTE is the better choice by far. The ARB bumper sits quite low so as not to block airflow to the radiator with a winch. In truth, it's a pretty poor design. And placing the recovery points BELOW the bumper adds insult to injury. The ARB can sure take a beating though (notwithstanding the ABS safe bumper).

I tend to support RoverTym and have since the beginning because John is a super guy, and makes bulletproof gear, and prices it fairly. I'll sing the praises of anyone doing that. In truth, I'd pay more for his stuff, but I don't have to.

-P

By Alex Schubow (Alex) on Tuesday, August 14, 2001 - 01:30 am: Edit

Perrone pretty much hit it on the money. If you want to bump deer and cows off the road, get an ARB.

My only complaint about RTE products is the coating sucks. Everything RTE on my truck that is made of steel is rusting, some of it after only a couple of months. Shock mounts, trailing links, and especially rock sliders. Gotta pull all the shit off before winter to clean and coat with POR-15, or it will really disintegrate. The reason for this, I think, is that the stuff is not powdercoated, but painted with some sort of undercoating paint, and it just does not hold up. In comparison, my SG rockgard tube, that lives under the front axle and is beat to hell, has no rust on it at all, and this is after 2 salty salty Chicago winters.

I hope the bumpers do better (they should, I think those are powdercoated, at least I hope so).

Alex

By mongo on Tuesday, August 14, 2001 - 03:02 am: Edit

You guys are are right about the arb, it's only the air bag bumper that seems to have a problem...The sliders I got from John at RTE are powercoated, but I plan on treating them before every winter just in case, I live upstate NY, so I have the salt problem.

mongo

By Mike J. (Mudd) on Tuesday, August 14, 2001 - 03:55 am: Edit

RTE everything! Thanks John for answering all questions, and innovating the newest and coolest products. I save all my money for you. well almost.

By Bill Bettridge (Billb) on Tuesday, August 14, 2001 - 07:02 am: Edit

Just so you know - I looked at John's new bumper at Roverfest this weekend and it is not powdercoated like the sliders, trailing arms, etc - but is painted with a very durable looking and thick material. Time will tell of course, but it was a completely different finish than his other products. - BTW - bumper is an awesome design - even the corners that wrap the fenders are rigid (unlike the $G where you can actually flex that section by hand)

By John on Tuesday, August 14, 2001 - 07:07 am: Edit

Bill, its a powder coat finish, just not a textured finish like the slider and rear link powder coat. Unfortunately Alex was sold a very early built set second hand at a very low price built before I started powder coating products.

By Alex Schubow (Alex) on Tuesday, August 14, 2001 - 12:12 pm: Edit

Yes, John is right, i did buy his used sliders. The shock mounts I bought were also one of the very first sets AFAIK, and John bent over backwards getting them right for me (I believe they were made before he had the mass-production jigs done, correct me if I'm wrong). The sliders saved my truck's bodywork a bunch of times already, and that's what really matters. YMMV.

Alex