Dilemma: front or rear bumper first?????

bluecollarjock said:
Really??? I have seen MANY auto accidents in my time as a cop, and the front ends of vehicles are demolished often even in slow speed accidents....so are you saying the reason the entire front end is demolished is to absorb the impact to make occupants safer?

Just from an eyeball standpoint it looks like stock front bumpers are worthless in an accident and the vehicle is toast if its anything other than a fender bender. Then my one incident demolishing a car with my steel winch bumper and I had paint transfer on it and no damage what so ever, and was not hurt.

You probably are correct. My logic was faulty in that less vehicle damage means safer occupants.
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I have to agree with weeeee on this one. Cars have been designed more and more to crumple and dissipate energy in impacts from many angles. And it has been an ongoing design effort for the past 50 years. The insurance industry would rather write off and replace a $40,000 vehicle than end up with 100's of thousands of dollars in medical bills. Do I like it? Not necessarily, but facts are facts. More people are walking away from accidents relatively unharmed now than they were even 20 years ago. Which by and large is a good thing considering the skill level of the average driver nowadays pales in comparison to earlier generations.
 
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bluecollarjock said:
Really??? I have seen MANY auto accidents in my time as a cop, and the front ends of vehicles are demolished often even in slow speed accidents....so are you saying the reason the entire front end is demolished is to absorb the impact to make occupants safer?

Just from an eyeball standpoint it looks like stock front bumpers are worthless in an accident and the vehicle is toast if its anything other than a fender bender. Then my one incident demolishing a car with my steel winch bumper and I had paint transfer on it and no damage what so ever, and was not hurt.

You probably are correct. My logic was faulty in that less vehicle damage means safer occupants.
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Yes, vehicles are designed with these features to absorb impacts and lessen the shock to occupants. Imagine a hammer hitting a brick. Then imagine a hammer with an aluminum can attached to it, hitting the brick. The hammer with the can will transmit less shock because the can absorbs some of that impact energy.

Here's a good way to waste a good 30 minutes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crumple_zone

With that being said, one of the benefits of an aftermarket plate bumper is protecting the vehicle from being disabled in minor accidents. A large animal strike (deer/cow/etc) could totally disable a normal car due to radiator/engine damage, but the plate bumper will fare up a lot better and get you home.

EDIT: Looks like [MENTION=96008]Engineer[/MENTION] and [MENTION=105481]3wbdriver[/MENTION] beat me to it :bounce:
 
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Just from a practical standpoint, I think a question you may wanna ask yourself is what do you need more a winch or fuel storage?
 
Which way do you usually park in the driveway?

Back in? Rear bumper.

Pull in? Front bumper.

You know you will want to keep staring at it from your front window....
 
JSparky said:
Just from a practical standpoint, I think a question you may wanna ask yourself is what do you need more a winch or fuel storage?
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Well since 4tunners never get stuck..... Lol jk both would be needed eventually. But after sleeping on it some more rear first seems more practical, I can see myself getting into more troublesome spots if I got a front bumper first and would more likely mess up the rear
 
Only one bumper or first....Rear all the way
On the topic of a front or rear bumper sustaining less damage in low speed impacts or animal strikes the one thing i never see discussed is the fact that by strengthening the front or rear end you are then transferring the stress of any impact to another item in this case directly to the frame (instead of absorber/reinforcement bar first) and so on.Another example would be spindles, gusset them and then your lca/uca/joints become the weak point and on down the line. The energy/stress has to go somewhere.
 
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Agreed energy needs to go somewhere. I plan to do both but I can only do one bumper for now it's definitely leaning more towards the rear... Now should I change my 5100 out? I already have the medium ome springs in there. Had it loaded up with around 300 lbs of sand bags before with little to no sag from what I could tell
 
I never wanted bumpers due to the weight. Over time, I started tearing up my rear stock bumper so I decided it was time and I got the rear aftermarket bumper first. A couple years later I accumulated more damage to my stock front bumper. Tired to put off a front bumper as long as I could because of the weight, again, and I wasn't running a winch. I didn't feel the need to add excessive unneeded weight. I told myself I'd only run a front bumper when it came time to get a winch. Needless to say, the time came and I now run an aftermarket front bumper with a winch. That's how mine came about. I can never understand people who run a front bumper without a winch. Why add the weight?
 
cbielat said:
I never wanted bumpers due to the weight. Over time, I started tearing up my rear stock bumper so I decided it was time and I got the rear aftermarket bumper first. A couple years later I accumulated more damage to my stock front bumper. Tired to put off a front bumper as long as I could because of the weight, again, and I wasn't running a winch. I didn't feel the need to add excessive unneeded weight. I told myself I'd only run a front bumper when it came time to get a winch. Needless to say, the time came and I now run an aftermarket front bumper with a winch. That's how mine came about. I can never understand people who run a front bumper without a winch. Why add the weight?
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What mpg are you looking at?

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
 
Tengu said:
Depends on what is more important to you. Access to your spare, and less likely to mess up your rear on a drop. Or the ability to ram zombies, sh it y drivers, or neighbors off the road.
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Lol damn this nearly convinced me that a front my bumper is first.
 
A related question: Am I correct in assuming that adding one/both of these awesome, heavy bumpers would require upgrading the suspension, and if so, how much lift would be needed?
 
Ray Dunakin said:
A related question: Am I correct in assuming that adding one/both of these awesome, heavy bumpers would require upgrading the suspension, and if so, how much lift would be needed?
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It's not so much lift as extra spring rate to make up for the added weight. BUT, since you can't normally get addition spring rate without adding lift unless you special order springs, most of us have added some lift.
 
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