ARB Bar chipped n rusty. 1 month old, not been off-road yet!

[Deeptank Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Deeptank]

Bugger! I was working on my Prado tonight and accidentally dropped a socket on the bar and guess what...a nice chip ops:

Oh boy, sorry to hear that too mate! Did it chip through the powder coat to bare metal? If so, it'll rust within a week... :-(

Am I being paranoid here or is there a pattern emerging...? I now have an appointment at ARB next Sat morning to take my Prado back to get the fog light either fixed (as in perhaps it's dodgy wiring) or the bulb changed. I'm also going to be pointing out the overall crapness of the paint job.

I have already sourced an alternative place to get a dual battery fitted and can't see myself spending much more at ARB. A bugger for them as I still have to spend at least another $6K+ on it and it's not going to be seeing the inside of their cash register now...

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Bugger! I was working on my Prado tonight and accidentally dropped a socket on the bar and guess what...a nice chip ops:

Oh boy, sorry to hear that too mate! Did it chip through the powder coat to bare metal? If so, it'll rust within a week... :-(

Am I being paranoid here or is there a pattern emerging...? I now have an appointment at ARB next Sat morning to take my Prado back to get the fog light either fixed (as in perhaps it's dodgy wiring) or the bulb changed. I'm also going to be pointing out the overall crapness of the paint job.

I have already sourced an alternative place to get a dual battery fitted and can't see myself spending much more at ARB. A bugger for them as I still have to spend at least another $6K+ on it and it's not going to be seeing the inside of their cash register now...

I'll get over it, I wouldn't fit anything other than an ARB dual battery system. You can spend your money elsewhere but if you plan on touring AU, you can find ARB everywhere, just like a Toyota dealer. Food for thought.

[Crammy Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Crammy]

I'll get over it, I wouldn't fit anything other than an ARB dual battery system. You can spend your money elsewhere but if you plan on touring AU, you can find ARB everywhere, just like a Toyota dealer. Food for thought.

They've got you sucked in blkmav90! I'm sure you'll find a redarc or similiar in more places than you'll find ARB, and you'll probably get better service too!

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

I'll get over it, I wouldn't fit anything other than an ARB dual battery system. You can spend your money elsewhere but if you plan on touring AU, you can find ARB everywhere, just like a Toyota dealer. Food for thought.

They've got you sucked in blkmav90! I'm sure you'll find a redarc or similiar in more places than you'll find ARB, and you'll probably get better service too!

Maybe it's who you know, not what you know :wink:

[Deeptank Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Deeptank]

For dual battery I'm going to get Piranha installed - tray, isolator and voltage meter, plus an extra power point in the back. A tad more expensive than ARB, but bugger it...

[Chuck Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chuck]

Mine goes in Friday to have the Sahara bar replaced as the centre loop would not sit straight.

Looks like it as a case of poor quality control when building the bar.

On a positive note that takes care of the deep scratch I put in it with a file when fitting the driving lights :lol: :lol:

Chuck

[Deeptank Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Deeptank]

Re: ARB Bar chipped n rusty. 1 month old, not been off-road yet!

Here's the latest...

A little while ago I noticed one of the fog lights was 'popping out' of its housing. This was the foggie, which had stopped functioning within a couple of weeks of installation. ARB Dandenong said the light loom had come lose and reconnected it, but now it would seem they forgot to tighten up the bolt. How damn basic is that???

So, seeing as I live close to ARB Brighton I took it there and they were kind enough to give me a few spare nuts, so I could fix it myself without another 50km round trip to ARB Dandenong. Of course getting to the back of the foggie I had to remove one of the side bash plates, which was a bit of a pain in the arse, but it's done now.

While at ARB Brighton I noticed a fairly generous amount of rust inside the bar!!! The bar is less than six months old and has seen a couple of camping trips, but been nowhere near a salty beach... and even if it had, surely a 'properly' powder coated and painted bar should not rust this fast. The guy at ARB Brighton said this should not be the case and told me I should take it up with ARB Dandenong. However, having had nothing but grief from that lot I will take this now up with ARB HQ in Kilsyth on Monday.

So, to recap:

-Bar installed May 08
-Bar chipped and rusting within a couple of weeks
-Foggie loom come lose a few weeks later
-Foggie loom fixed, but light not reattched properly
-I have to remove bash plate to reattach foggie properly (to save a drive to a hot spot of incompetence...)
-Bar now rusting 'whole sale' inside

Not too pumped about this at all...

[MDS69 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MDS69]

Re: ARB Bar chipped n rusty. 1 month old, not been off-road yet!

^^^ any pics

[Dice Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Dice]

Re: ARB Bar chipped n rusty. 1 month old, not been off-road yet!

Had an ARB bar fitted to my 05 hilux had it replaced 3 times due to rust at the welds,all in 18mths and the 4th one was rusting as well when I sold it but not as bad.
Cheers Craig

[Deeptank Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Deeptank]

Re: ARB Bar chipped n rusty. 1 month old, not been off-road yet!

I called ARB head office today around 2pm to voice my issues... Spoke to a guy there and gave him an overall picture of my grievances, saying the bar was originally fitted at Dandenong and how I'd rather deal with Brighton as they're close to me. He took my details and said he'd buzz me back in a bit. "Yeah, right..." I thought to myself. How wrong I was... the Brighton branch called me in about 10 minutes' time and asked me to take my Prado there so they could take a few pics and take it up with the head office. I was still a tad sceptical, but when I got there they took pics of the problems (rust and chipping) and said they would most likely replace it, which was just great. Not only that, but he was the first guy to actually APOLOGISE for the hassle! A small thing you might think, but in the scheme of things it was a 'result' of sorts. At Dandenong the attitide was very much along the lines of, "Yeah whatever, tell someone who gives a crap..." A few months ago they said they'd call me back when some "warranty guy" would come around. Did they ever? Nah... never...

Dandenong is a franchise and Brighton in ARB owned and my god it showed! I was told to expect a call from the tomorrow to see how they will follow up, but I feel a lot more relieved and the way Brighton dealt with the issue has very much restored my confidence in ARB. Way to go!

I'll post back again on how it all pans out, but my gut-feeling is pretty damn good right now.

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Re: ARB Bar chipped n rusty. 1 month old, not been off-road yet!

Brighton ARB have always been good to me. Not knocking all ARB franchises because some are great however you get what you pay for and I include service in that.

[Deeptank Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Deeptank]

Re: ARB Bar chipped n rusty. 1 month old, not been off-road yet!

Too true blkmav90, too true indeed...!

The difference in service and staff attitude couldn't be further apart. I won't be spending a single cent at Dandenong again...

Having said all of that, the bar itself (paint job and all) would've still been the same. If this gets sorted out with a better painted rust proof replacement bar at Brighton it would 100% restore my confidence in ARB. I sure hope so as those diff locks, winch and that little lift, blah, blah... are still on the shopping list!

[Deeptank Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Deeptank]

Re: ARB Bar chipped n rusty. 1 month old, not been off-road yet!

Righty-ho... The Prado's going to Brighton ARB this Thursday to have the bar removed and repainted at Kilsyth. Pretty pleased about this overall - the service from Brighton has been great and now I won't have to go back to Dandenong, which is a HUGE bonus in my book. Will post back again to let know how it all pans out.

[phoenix Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close phoenix]

Re: ARB Bar chipped n rusty. 1 month old, not been off-road yet!

My white bar has been photographed and sent to the warranty people. Chances are since it is only 4 months old they might replace it

[Deeptank Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Deeptank]

Re: ARB Bar chipped n rusty. 1 month old, not been off-road yet!

All done and dusted with a brand new colour coded de luxe bar. At first it was going to be a re-spray, but they opted to replace the whole thing (swapping the foggies). This was done at ARB Brighton and I am very pleased with their service. They also lent me a (gasp...) Nissan Navara ute, which was ARB'd up to the eye-balls. A further good gesture on their part, but putting a Prado driver in a Navara... Where's the love? :wink:

In short, happy to make further purchases at this branch without any hesitation. I think that best sums up the outcome.