If anyone is looking into the Artec Industries front bumper, here is my honest review from the initial order up to the installation.
Backstory on why I chose this bumper: I went back and forth between ordering from C4, SSO, and Victory4x4. What sold me mainly on the Artec bumper was the added bonus of free A-arm skids and the "1 week" turn around time. Overall fit and finish of the bumper looked pretty good to me as well. Total out the door after tax and shipping was $830.44
Communication: 3/10
Communication and customer satisfaction is a big deal for me. I always said I would support companies that actually take the time to respond to their customers. This was not the case here. Seeing how active they were on social media platforms, I sent them multiple messages regarding my order as well as some issues I had upon receiving my order. Messages either took 1-2 weeks for a response or being left on read/seen with no response at all. I did also make 1 phone call and 2 separate messages to them inquiring about the turn around time on the Venture bumpers. I was given 3 different responses (These are in stock - these are typically a couple of days out - turn around time is 1 week).
Shipping: 2/10
I understand these are shipped UPS Ground and not freight strapped to a pallet, but holy hell they need to work on their packaging. They basically threw the bumper in a thin cardboard box and filled the empty spaces with packing paper. I would have at least wrapped the bumper in shrink wrap and double walled cardboard. My box showed up pretty beat up from UPS with 2 holes in it.
Turnaround: 8/10
Order was placed 4/24/2019 and the bumper was on my doorstep 5/14/2019. Totaling just shy of 3 weeks, which is pretty good, but it would be nice if they listed this on their website instead of telling potential customers "We normally keep these in stock"
Fit and Finish: 6/10
Upon receiving the bumper, I noticed quite a bit of weld splatter. No big deal, I was able to sand most of it down with my air grinder. Although I believe that's something that should have been noticed and taken care of by QA prior to shipping. Upon further inspection, I noticed the "hook" tabs were facing the wrong direction
nothing a pair of pliers couldnt fixed. No big deal right? BUT wait! Theres more. I cant find the exact post where they stated it fits a Rigid 30" bar, but it doesnt. I had to fab up some simple brackets to mount the bar in place..no big deal I guess. Now onto the winch! For the most part, the winch fit but I did have to bend the vertical bar on my core support.
Now comes the part to install the bumper onto the car. Only 3 of the 4 holes lined up correctly on each side.
Once I got everything on and buttoned up, I noticed the bumper was shifted a lot more towards the passenger side and not perfectly center. Pulled everything off and shifted the bumper as much as I could to the driver side. Still not center...
Top of the bumper also sits pretty far in, borderline pushing up against the center mesh grille. Sides of the bumper sit right on the bumper itself and I expect paint to rub off over time. Eventually I will have to pull everything back off again in the future and widen/oval out the mounting holes and see if I can get it aligned better.
Final Thoughts:
If I were to do this all over again, I would probably go with 1 of the 3 other companies above. Overall, it was a lot more work than I anticipated and garbage communication/customer service. Maybe the bumper I received was the bad one of the bunch, but it was wayyyyyyy too much of a headache and extra work for subpar fitment. I began questioning if these bumpers are manufactured in house or if they outsource them. When I inquired about the lead time over the phone, they told me that they were waiting for the next shipment of bumpers to arrive.
