Smart Bar anyone ?

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

My employer has the smart bars fitted to a few of its utes and a couple of prados,driving back into town along Bingarn rd back into Tom Price I saw a dead
and very large cow by the side of the road and thought it may have been collected by a roadtrain, a couple of hundred metres up the road there was a
company ford ranger parked by the side of the road unattended so I went back to have a look and found this.


Wouldn't go near one now.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

How much damage would a car sporting a different bar sustain? Who knows. Looks like a big hit. Possible a steel bar may have deflected the beast rather than absorb the impact but as I said who knows.

I had a smart bar on my 90 and it was good. Don't like them on the 150 because they don't offer any increased approach angle and in my opinion they look below average. Better than a TUFF bar but then so does every other option .

A lot of this is just personal preference. I think the T3 looks the best. Others something else.

[BiLLz0r Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close BiLLz0r]

... so I went back to have a look and found this.

It looks like the bar itself held up ok but the mounts just bent under the impact. Possible not enough mounts or thick enough grade.

[PradoJim Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradoJim]

Bit of a mess, but then again, I guess you'd have to look at a steel bar after a hitting a cow ?

[leethal1 Member Find all posts View Profile Close leethal1]

My employer has the smart bars fitted to a few of its utes and a couple of prados,driving back into town along Bingarn rd back into Tom Price I saw a dead
and very large cow by the side of the road and thought it may have been collected by a roadtrain, a couple of hundred metres up the road there was a
company ford ranger parked by the side of the road unattended so I went back to have a look and found this.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]24031[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]24032[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]24033[/ATTACH]

Wouldn't go near one now.

that smart bar looks good, you could probably put it on gumtree and make some money.... shame about the rest of the car.

[Guest Close Guest]

Reminds me of the smart bar equipped Prado I saw in the Nullarbor a couple years ago.
Bar looked 99% ok but car was screwed after hitting a roo..
Wasn't going anywhere..

[PradoJim Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradoJim]

Reminds me of the smart bar equipped Prado I saw in the Nullarbor a couple years ago.
Bar looked 99% ok but car was screwed after hitting a roo..
Wasn't going anywhere..

Well, as usual, the more info you get the more confusing it all becomes. You witnessed the car/bar combo and of course I believe you. Yet I found so many positive stories about the smartbar vs roo in general.

Hitting a cow doesn't bother me per se, it's going to be a mess whatever I've got. A roo strike I'd like to drive away from.

[Guest Close Guest]

I was a bit shocked myself. It seemed to flex to absorb the roo. But in mean time damaged the front of the car. Radiator was gone too..

Sadly they kept driving and cooked the engine.

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

I have a black smart bar fitted to my 2013 silver GXL. It has certainly earned its keep as we have had two roo strikes with no damage. One full on and the other glancing. I am very happy with it. Original decision was based on not only reports of good resistance to bending but also weight - I have a second battery system and standard suspension.

[PradoJim Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradoJim]

Thanks for that. Some real world experience is very informative and reassuring.

[leethal1 Member Find all posts View Profile Close leethal1]

I have a black smart bar fitted to my 2013 silver GXL. It has certainly earned its keep as we have had two roo strikes with no damage. One full on and the other glancing. I am very happy with it. Original decision was based on not only reports of good resistance to bending but also weight - I have a second battery system and standard suspension.

do you have a winch model or the standard?

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

Standard

Cheers

[Ian Reid Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Reid]

If you want to stand out try this bar i saw recently

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

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

If you want to stand out try this bar i saw recently

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Saw one like that at the Alice Springs airport once. There is also a hilux getting around here with a bright yellow bar too.

[Rrob Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Rrob]

Have had a smart bar for 4 1/2 years now. Standard suspension, 110,000km and no (discernible) drop. Haven't hit anything but remember reading stories that were generally favourable. Went for functionality over looks. The story that sold me was a 'remote area' ambulance service (3 ambulances) that hadn't had an ambulance off the road in the 3 years after fitting smart bars.

Also the couple of 'testimonials' on the smart bar site seem fairly positive