TMT Front Bumper - BUYER BEWARE

[MTN4RNR]

This front bumper design has been designed by TMT as a direct reflection of the Relentless Fabrication Stingray Lo-Pro Winch bumper. They ordered and received a Stingray Lo-Pro from Relentless Fabrication a few months ago, and with a very similar design I can only imagine that the original was used as a template to base their design off of. Relentless Fabrication designed, tested and hand builds every bumper in Nevada and is not a large shop to begin with but manages to product some of the best armor on the market for our 4Runners.

I would urge you to buy from the company that put the time, sweat and blood to develop the products from scratch, and not from a company who takes a shortcut to produce an inferior product.

Relentless Fabrication Stingray Lo-Pro:

TMT version:

 

[rayofsi]

lots of similarities for sure. But you can tell they changed enough that they are not a direct knock off.
They probably bought bumpers from everyone making a slim/low bumper... For design reference..

 

[JSparky]

I know nothing about them. Just went to their website and their roof rack looks very similar to the Prinsu rack. Are they in Venezuela?

Roof Rack for Toyota 4runner , Racks, 4x4 Accessories | TMT4X4.COM

 

[MTN4RNR]

lots of similarities for sure. But you can tell they changed enough that they are not a direct knock off.
They probably bought bumpers from everyone making a slim/low bumper... For design reference..

Different in small ways, sure. The point is, they bought a product from another company to use as a template for theirs. They’re letting others put their time and money to develop products and then reaping the benefits, providing more competition on that product to the original company. It’s a shady way to do business, especially when the company who designed it in the first place is a small company of hard working people trying to design and produce the best products on the market.

 

[MTN4RNR]

I know nothing about them. Just went to their website and their roof rack looks very similar to the Prinsu rack. Are they in Venezuela?

Roof Rack for Toyota 4runner , Racks, 4x4 Accessories | TMT4X4.COM

Yep, they’re from Venezuela.

Yeah, that comparison has been made a number of times. What a crappy way to do business.

 

[On Point]

The Money Team?

 

[rayofsi]

so differences from the face side.
no replacement lower grille on TMT
larger recovery point contact area.

 

[MTN4RNR]

The Money Team?

TMT 4x4

 

[LawnDart]

Weak. About average for the offroad world. Still weak.

 

[MTN4RNR]

so differences from the face side.
no replacement lower grille on TMT
larger recovery point contact area.

Sure. Subtle differences masking a general copy/paste.

 

[PeoplecallmeIan]

I work in the off road industry and this happens all the time. It's nothing new. A lot of the stuff sold in the industry are re-branded stuff from the same manufacturers also. It sucks for sure but its the sad truth. R&D= rip off and develop . Also, looks like there isn't a way to buy that stuff in the US anyway so they aren't really stealing from the US market that Relentless is in.

 

[MTN4RNR]

I work in the off road industry and this happens all the time. It's nothing new. A lot of the stuff sold in the industry are re-branded stuff from the same manufacturers also. It sucks for sure but its the sad truth. R&D= rip off and develop . Also, looks like there isn't a way to buy that stuff in the US anyway so they aren't really stealing from the US market that Relentless is in.

They have a group buy open currently on this forum. It’s being sold in the US.

Sad that this is the norm, all we can do is call them out and encourage support of the companies who put time time and money into it. It’s a community effort.

 

[e60ral]

most people here were fine with gobi racks being copied :shrug:


i actually like the bottom one better because you don't have to use the ugly bottom grill

 

[MTN4RNR]

most people here were fine with gobi racks being copied :shrug:


i actually like the bottom one better because you don't have to use the ugly bottom grill

Everyone has their own preference. There are other fabricators with other bumpers they have designed without that feature. That’s not the issue here.

 

[rayofsi]

need to see how the back looks like to determine how much they copied.

90% of the high end cellphones coming out 4th quarter this year.. look 90% similar.

 

[Swarty]

Meh...

Not going to lie. That is the simplest way to do a bumper in that space. On a design that simple I'd be surprised if there were many variants. They look similar but it would be easy to end up with a similar design without having seen the original.

 

[brtnstrns]

Not going to lie. That is the simplest way to do a bumper in that space. On a design that simple I'd be surprised if there were many variants. They look similar but it would be easy to end up with a similar design without having seen the original.

Yeah, once you get limited to a small space on a specific commodity, the design variables and requirements become pretty damn limited without doing something completely ridiculous or ineffective.

 

[MTN4RNR]

need to see how the back looks like to determine how much they copied.

90% of the high end cellphones coming out 4th quarter this year.. look 90% similar.

Sad that this is just “how it is” nowadays. Difference is that the ones effected here are hard working people from a small company. Large corporations have that type of product copying by others built into their bottom line.

Not going to lie. That is the simplest way to do a bumper in that space. On a design that simple I'd be surprised if there were many variants. They look similar but it would be easy to end up with a similar design without having seen the original.

Yeah, once you get limited to a small space on a specific commodity, the design variables and requirements become pretty damn limited without doing something completely ridiculous or ineffective.

You’re right, not many ways to build with space. But when a company purchases a product from another, and then a few months later comes out with “their own design” that has a lot of similar features and design points, there few ways to connect those dots. They skipped the hard work that someone else did to design and test the product, and that’s just disappointing.

I’m just floating the information so that those in the market can make an informed decision on who they want to support.

 

[brtnstrns]

You’re right, not many ways to build with space. But when a company purchases a product from another, and then a few months later comes out with “their own design” that has a lot of similar features and design points, there few ways to connect those dots. They skipped the hard work that someone else did to design and test the product, and that’s just disappointing.

I’m just floating the information so that those in the market can make an informed decision on who they want to support.

Yeah I understand. It's sketchy. Hell, the company I work for literally exists to take OEM parts and re-engineer them to sell at lower prices. But that's because Boeing and Airbus aren't allowed to have a monopoly on aircraft parts and the FAA allows it as long as it can meet exactly the same specifications as the OEM.

But aftermarket car part copying seems to happen all over the place. But yeah, as another poster said, a lot of people wish we could have a Gobi ripoff lol. But that's the free market, if the original design is better, hopefully it'll beat out the copy-cat.

 

[Crikeymike]

Yeah I understand. It's sketchy. Hell, the company I work for literally exists to take OEM parts and re-engineer them to sell at lower prices. But that's because Boeing and Airbus aren't allowed to have a monopoly on aircraft parts

So you're saying you can hook us all up with some of those sweet airplane tray tables so we can convert our front seats to airplane style seats for the backseat passengers?

Hahhaha