ALUMINUM bumpers ONLY. Let's see them!

[Slippery Pete]

Next Venture Featherlight w/ skid

What color paint is that? Hella? Looks sweet!!

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[Shibadog]

Looking good! Yes, Rockhard is also on the short list. The only stike against rock hard ( and only my opinion) is the fact that you have to do something with the tire carrier to use their rear bumper. If their rear bumper had the tire cutout, I am pretty sure I would have already placed an order with them for both front and rear. Really dig their mid width front front though

+1 on the Rockhard. I’ve got full width front and rear and love them. Very high build quality, perfect fit and finish. I did change tire carrier on the tailgate, but not sure I needed to with Rubi takeoffs. For larger tires it’s a must have. Worth it though imho.

 

[rubiRI77]

+1 on the Rockhard. I’ve got full width front and rear and love them. Very high build quality, perfect fit and finish. I did change tire carrier on the tailgate, but not sure I needed to with Rubi takeoffs. For larger tires it’s a must have. Worth it though imho.

+2 for rockhard haha. I went with them on front and rear. and went with Rustys tire carrier after discovering the teraflex wouldn't work. Love the bumpers and the tire carrier. Very stout pieces.

 

[Low_Spark]

What color paint is that? Hella? Looks sweet!!

You got it. Hella Yella. Thanks, I bought a small rattle can of Mopar touch up paint and sprayed the little backing plate to match. I did the same on the rear.

 

[blink9cd]

+1 on the Rockhard. I’ve got full width front and rear and love them. Very high build quality, perfect fit and finish. I did change tire carrier on the tailgate, but not sure I needed to with Rubi takeoffs. For larger tires it’s a must have. Worth it though imho.

Did you change out your front fenders at all? While I like my rock hard full width front a lot, and I'm sure it's good for the trails that the ends are angled up, I can't help but admit that it bugs me that the bumper is now touching my fenders. Looks a little like I have that weird splash guard the Sports have to remove bumper/fender separation.

 

[blink9cd]

@dragoneggs And I guess anyone else that making decisions/debating what features they're looking for on a bumper and weighing them on cost, importance, etc: I did the full install of my new bumper over the past couple of days. Breaking the rules a little with the first picture cause I ultimately didn't pick an aluminum rear, but really meant to focus on the accessories:

I'm a big fan of the Rugged Ridge Magnetic License plate holder. Simple to use, and I like the way it looks a lot more than the spare tire ones, and it's 1000x easier than drilling into a bumper to retrofit a holder there (especially for $25). I haven't gone offroading with it yet, but it feels really sturdy and doesn't budge a bit on rides around town. Up close with the light attached too:

Only "gotchas" that happened: the license plate light bolts in between the license plate and the holder, and I wanted to use my license plate frame I already had, so the provided bolts were a bit too short. Luckily I already had a set of "security" ones I bought on Amazon a whim that were longer. Think that set was about $10, but I think it looks tidier with the caps anyway (though I have an urge to make them matte).

The Quadratec LED license plate was truly plug and play and works nicely. Very happy with it for solving that problem for me for $30. The only part I was annoyed about is there's no cutout along the magnetic edge of my holder for me to hide the wire, so I had to run the wire along the top with clips. Here's a picture at night...sorry this picture sucks but my phone refused to take a picture without glare. It easily seems bright enough that you're not getting pulled over:

Next, the Fishbone Rear Quarter Panel Chip Guards since the new bumper doesn't extend as far as the OEM one. They feel sturdy and I believe they will protect the now exposed body on the side that the plastic bumper was covering. See before:

and after:

However I think the shape is weird and would like to have a stern talking to with their designer. Still overall like it more than I don't for about $30.

Finally, already pictured, but I wanted to use shackles rather than the pseudo tow hooks. Already had one bad experience with my OEM tail hook having a shackle falling off mid recovery exercise. Those are Quadratec ones at $10/piece, and I used the Daystar Isolater kit for $17. I like the look with it better and much prefer that over them swinging around. Oh and not pictured but Harbor freight zip ties/clips for $5.

Overall all those accessories ran me about a little around $140. Definitely good to keep in mind since you have to figure them all out in your total price anyway, and also good to know when considering a bumper or not for its features vs others (fyi didn't need new tire carrier, didn't have to modify my aftermarket hitch).

 

[Shibadog]

Did you change out your front fenders at all? While I like my rock hard full width front a lot, and I'm sure it's good for the trails that the ends are angled up, I can't help but admit that it bugs me that the bumper is now touching my fenders. Looks a little like I have that weird splash guard the Sports have to remove bumper/fender separation.

No, on mine there is a nice little gap on each side between the bumper and fenders (1/2 inch”). To me it looks “right”. Bumper should NOT be touching your fenders…

 

[j-rob]

Is anyone familiar with these?

https://www.ariesautomotive.com/part/2082092

I am interested in their aluminum bumpers, but cannot find any first hand accounts.

 

[Smcdowell]

MP Concepts

 

[ajkitebrder40]

MP Concepts

How was the install? Exteme Terrain needs to fix their website too, it shows the MPConcepts as a full width without an option to remove the end caps, just FYI.

 

[Smcdowell]

How was the install? Exteme Terrain needs to fix their website too, it shows the MPConcepts as a full width without an option to remove the end caps, just FYI.

It wasn't too bad...the hardest part was the skid plate and getting the brackets for them lined up. I also had to cut a section out of the steel winch plate in order to clear the electronic sway bar disconnect (which ET doesn't state on their website either).

All in all, I'm very happy with it. It only weighs a couple of pounds more than the factory plastic bumper and I love the looks of the factory steel without all the added weight.

 

[blink9cd]

No, on mine there is a nice little gap on each side between the bumper and fenders (1/2 inch”). To me it looks “right”. Bumper should NOT be touching your fenders…

Ok looked again and I realized I'm exaggerating a bit. But they are a lot closer than I realized they would be. Looks like that's because all the pictures on their site are with a Rubicon. I ultimately don't think it would've affected my decision, but if I knew I probably would've put it on my spreadsheet of considerations ?

 

[blink9cd]

Is anyone familiar with these?

https://www.ariesautomotive.com/part/2082092

I am interested in their aluminum bumpers, but cannot find any first hand accounts.

I looked into the rear bumper a little bit. The modular aspect seemed kind of cool, but I don't recall seeing any first hand accounts either. If I recall home depot had a good price on it? Ultimately it didn't meet my reqs so I didn't look into it with much depth.

 

[j-rob]

I looked into the rear bumper a little bit. The modular aspect seemed kind of cool, but I don't recall seeing any first hand accounts either. If I recall home depot had a good price on it? Ultimately it didn't meet my reqs so I didn't look into it with much depth.

Thanks for that. I'm in that same boat. They look good, great weight and look solid.

However considering the price point and how members here like to spend, I was certain that someone had tried one! haha

 

[Shibadog]

I looked at one of the modular units before I bought mine, but the shop owner said they’d had alignment issues with them, he then took me out and showed me a set on one of his guys Jeeps, and the gap on one side was significantly different than on the other, and he told me that was as good as they could make it, and only then after modifying some of the mounts. Be sure whatever you go with is solid stuff-lots of junk out there..

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