Question about bumper guards

[4RUNNERinVA]

I just bought a 04 Sport 4Runner. I am interested in a bumper/grill guard. I was wondering what would produce more damage $$$ to the 4Runner in an impact( accident). A 4Runner with or without the guard grill. I am under the impression that the guard grills are attached to the chassis. Could the chasis be affected more witht the guard grill, since the crush zone in a way is being altered.

By the way nice site. Tons of good information.

 

[linhsy]

for what I know, bumber guard only protect your vehicle in a light hit. However, in a real big accident the bumber guard cause more damage to the vehicle body. I might be wrong. Use the search function you can find several threads that address this issue. BTW, I'm in VA, too. I'm glad we have more members in our area. Hope we can have a meet setup soon.

 

[TranceKrayz]

i use my guard for protection against bumps and scrapes....things that can add up and cost 500 bucks to repaint your bumper. no guard is made so that you can ram people while sustaining minimal damage. IMO, an accident is an accident. with or without the guard (depending on the speed of the impact), your car will be damaged.

 

[Cleric]

If I remember correctly, people installing the T&H bull bar were saying how surprised they were at how light the hangers were. I figured this is good, as I would much rather have to replace them then to deal with a bent frame. I think that in a major collision, a grille guard will cause more damage to your vehicle.

 

[Cliff s]

I have been looking a grill guards, bull bars and all of them have been mounted
to the frame bolts under the bumper. If you look at the design they are really
pretty flimsy and will bend wilth the slightest bump.

Toyota did make some nice mounting places on the square tubes right behind
the Plastic bumper. It would seem to me that the grill guard should be mounted
through the grill to these tubes. Since this part bolts to the frame it would be a
whole lot stronger and if you had a good hit the tubes would bend and could easily
be replaced. Someday somebody will make one that way and I will buy it, until
that time I will save my bucks.

Cliff s

 

[4RUNNERinVA]

Thanks all for the information. I hope that I will never get into an accident but If I do I don't want to deal with chasis problems. I guess I wil put my money into other stuff for the 4Runner