The Aftermarket Bumper List (JL / JLU Wrangler)

[TTEChris]

ps. Quick qusetions if you have time:
Did you buy it direct from Roam or did is it cheaper from distributor?
Does it come with a skid plate? I'm planning on the same winch from Smittybuilt so yours is a great pic.
If you have a chance (if not I understand) can you post a side view and skid plate pic, that would be great. I looked on their site but not much for pics.
Sure appreciate your help.

Here are a few pictures of the skids from a lower angle.

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[Tom k]

Order directly from them, I don't think they have their distributor network setup yet.
It actually comes in 5 major piece. Winch plate, Bumper, and three lower skids
I will try and take some pictures of it here in a little bit..

I just got in an accident with a Chevy Impala. Well, ROAM rear bumper 1, Impalla 0......
Other than some minor powdercoat missing from the hitch the bumper had zero damage. I didn't initially like the hitches, but after this I'm glad they were there.

Thanks!!!

 

[Bingy]

Look again.

Lighted bolts. There is an installation guide link on that website I linked that shows them.

Yeah my bad. Saw that after I posted.

 

[Bingy]

So I have a question for you all...would like to get opinions if this would look stupid. I have a bright white Sahara. If I replace my front and rear bumpers, keep them black or would coating them white to match look stupid? I saw someone on here in earlier posts having a white painted bumper to match his white ride and I honestly think that looked really good. But it would be nice to get some opinions whether for or against that.

Thanks for the replies...I have the color matched freedom top.

Here is the one I want to compare...same bumper...

 

[UNC Rubicon]

So I have a question for you all...would like to get opinions if this would look stupid. I have a bright white Sahara. If I replace my front and rear bumpers, keep them black or would coating them white to match look stupid? I saw someone on here in earlier posts having a white painted bumper to match his white ride and I honestly think that looked really good. But it would be nice to get some opinions whether for or against that.

Thanks for the replies...I have the color matched freedom top.

Here is the one I want to compare...same bumper...

I'm personally not a fan - I've always liked contrast.

Have you thought about buying a couple cans of Plasti Dip to see if you like it in person? Would be a lot cheaper than finding out later that you don't like the white.

 

[TTEChris]

So I have a question for you all...would like to get opinions if this would look stupid. I have a bright white Sahara. If I replace my front and rear bumpers, keep them black or would coating them white to match look stupid? I saw someone on here in earlier posts having a white painted bumper to match his white ride and I honestly think that looked really good. But it would be nice to get some opinions whether for or against that.

Thanks for the replies...I have the color matched freedom top.

Here is the one I want to compare...same bumper...

I'm also not a big fan of the all white.

 

[Bingy]

I was thinking black also. Nice to hear feedback...

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

So I have a question for you all...would like to get opinions if this would look stupid. I have a bright white Sahara. If I replace my front and rear bumpers, keep them black or would coating them white to match look stupid? I saw someone on here in earlier posts having a white painted bumper to match his white ride and I honestly think that looked really good. But it would be nice to get some opinions whether for or against that.

Thanks for the replies...I have the color matched freedom top.

Here is the one I want to compare...same bumper...

Only if you also intend to wear an all-white suit and sell ice cream at the park.

 

[maguro]

So I have a question for you all...would like to get opinions if this would look stupid. I have a bright white Sahara. If I replace my front and rear bumpers, keep them black or would coating them white to match look stupid? I saw someone on here in earlier posts having a white painted bumper to match his white ride and I honestly think that looked really good. But it would be nice to get some opinions whether for or against that.

Thanks for the replies...I have the color matched freedom top.

Here is the one I want to compare...same bumper...

I think white on white looks sharp. But it makes the Jeep look like a vehicle used by the United Nations. The only thing missing are the big letters, "UN" on the side.

 

[MikeinMD]

So I have a question for you all...would like to get opinions if this would look stupid. I have a bright white Sahara. If I replace my front and rear bumpers, keep them black or would coating them white to match look stupid? I saw someone on here in earlier posts having a white painted bumper to match his white ride and I honestly think that looked really good. But it would be nice to get some opinions whether for or against that.

Thanks for the replies...I have the color matched freedom top.

Here is the one I want to compare...same bumper...

Another vote in the black column. It's a bit too much white, and the black will be easier to touch up the scrapes and scratches on. It is a bumper after all.

 

[JeepU4IA]

So I have a question for you all...would like to get opinions if this would look stupid. I have a bright white Sahara. If I replace my front and rear bumpers, keep them black or would coating them white to match look stupid? I saw someone on here in earlier posts having a white painted bumper to match his white ride and I honestly think that looked really good. But it would be nice to get some opinions whether for or against that.

Thanks for the replies...I have the color matched freedom top.

Here is the one I want to compare...same bumper...

Another vote for black. To me, contrast keeps it looking like a Jeep.

If you do decide to do it, you have to color match the factory paint. Two shades of white will add insult to injury!

 

[bjlamour]

So I have a question for you all...would like to get opinions if this would look stupid. I have a bright white Sahara. If I replace my front and rear bumpers, keep them black or would coating them white to match look stupid? I saw someone on here in earlier posts having a white painted bumper to match his white ride and I honestly think that looked really good. But it would be nice to get some opinions whether for or against that.

Thanks for the replies...I have the color matched freedom top.

Here is the one I want to compare...same bumper...

You have your comparison right there. Only question that matters is do YOU like it?
That's the thing we all love about Jeeps. So easy to make them exactly what each individual wants them to be.

It sounds like if you're asking the question, you probably don't like it that much.

(My vote is that it's too much white. But again, only thing that matters is what you think about it.)

 

[bongoray]

Hello everyone, here's my honest review and experience with Artec and their Nighthawk front bumper and skid plate:

Admittedly I'm a little upset and disappointed. Neither the bumper, nor the sway bar guard came with installation instructions or torque values for the bolts. I was able to remove my stock bumper on my brand new 2018 JLUR in about 20 minutes. I spent the next 4.5 hours trying to get this bumper to bolt on. I had to drill larger clearance holes and grind my brand new frame with a dremel tool to get the bumper mounting bolts to sort of line up with their mounting holes in the bumper. After struggling to get all the bolts in I slightly cross threaded the last bolt after multiple attempts and just decided to leave it off until I can run a finishing tap through it to fix the threads. I probably took this bumper on and off 7 or 8 times to try to make adjustments to get it to fit. The next fun part was realizing that the bumper does in fact accept the stock LED fog lights, which is great, but it does not accept the stock fog light mounting hardware. That's ok though, I'll check the hardware bag... nope not included. More on the fog lights later...

I finally was able to get the bumper on (minus one mounting bolt) and it was time to mount the winch. The winch install surprisingly went well. However I wish Artec would chase & deburr their through holes. Of course the last bolt I was threading in wouldn't go through the hole due to a burr. An easy fix, but not what I wanted to run into as I'm trying to finish the install. One last fun surprise was the driver side D-ring mount hole was drilled too small and I had to use a dead blow hammer to pound the bolt through. Normally I wouldn't do that but I was so frustrated with the install I just wanted it done. It stripped off the paint on the D ring bolt and I'm sure the brand new paint on the inside of the hole. Which will probably rust in our Buffalo, NY winters. Speaking of paint, it cost me $300 to get this bumper painted. The surface finish of the bumper had my painter doing extra prep work to make it look good. The welds and construction of the bumper are really well done. It is perhaps overkill and it weighs a ton for a shorty bumper (roughly 80 pounds). But I can live with that. I would've been much happier if it fit right the first time. Artec, please pay more attention to your mounting hole tolerances, chase & deburr your holes. Also, it couldn't hurt to chamfer the sharp edges of the bumper too. My hands would thank you.

So I had to mount the fog lights at a later time since it took so long to mount the bumper. The mounting holes for the stock LED fog lights lined up perfectly, but like I said before you can't use the stock mounting screws. Installing the fog lights after the bumper is installed is a pain in the ass. There's not a lot of room to work with tools, but it is possible. What's not possible, since the mounting holes aren't threaded is to get a nut on the outside of the LED because once the light is installed there's no room to access the nut from the front of the bumper. I was able to buy some stainless steel screws and put them in from the front of the bumper and could just get a thin screw driver in from the front, but only for the top two bolts, the bottom two bolts are not accessible by any means. There also is no means of adjusting the fog lights either. Artec also needs to redesign the bumper to move the location of the fog lights so you can easily reuse the factory wiring harness. The driver's side is no problem because the wires are super long. I actually had to tie them back. The passenger side is a different story. There's no easy way to get the connect to the LED. I was able to stretch it and make it work, but there's no stress relief on the wires. I'll probably have to lengthen it at some point.

I also purchased the sway bar guard. It appears to be well built, but again it didn't come with instructions. It does come with a small additional bracket that I can't figure out for the life of me where it goes. Again, some instructions would help. I haven't tried to mount it yet. I'll add a review once I do. I'm expecting more problems, but hoping for the best.

I will also mention that I have not been able to get any customer service. Artec does not answer their phones, nor do they return voicemails or respond to emails or the online review portions on their website. I tried installing this bumper on 5/3/18. I've left two voicemails, one review (this one) and an email that have all gone unanswered. I'm disappointed in such an expensive bumper. More so in the lack of customer support.

 

[TTEChris]

Hello everyone, here's my honest review and experience with Artec and their Nighthawk front bumper and skid plate:

Admittedly I'm a little upset and disappointed. Neither the bumper, nor the sway bar guard came with installation instructions or torque values for the bolts. I was able to remove my stock bumper on my brand new 2018 JLUR in about 20 minutes. I spent the next 4.5 hours trying to get this bumper to bolt on. I had to drill larger clearance holes and grind my brand new frame with a dremel tool to get the bumper mounting bolts to sort of line up with their mounting holes in the bumper. After struggling to get all the bolts in I slightly cross threaded the last bolt after multiple attempts and just decided to leave it off until I can run a finishing tap through it to fix the threads. I probably took this bumper on and off 7 or 8 times to try to make adjustments to get it to fit. The next fun part was realizing that the bumper does in fact accept the stock LED fog lights, which is great, but it does not accept the stock fog light mounting hardware. That's ok though, I'll check the hardware bag... nope not included. More on the fog lights later...

I finally was able to get the bumper on (minus one mounting bolt) and it was time to mount the winch. The winch install surprisingly went well. However I wish Artec would chase & deburr their through holes. Of course the last bolt I was threading in wouldn't go through the hole due to a burr. An easy fix, but not what I wanted to run into as I'm trying to finish the install. One last fun surprise was the driver side D-ring mount hole was drilled too small and I had to use a dead blow hammer to pound the bolt through. Normally I wouldn't do that but I was so frustrated with the install I just wanted it done. It stripped off the paint on the D ring bolt and I'm sure the brand new paint on the inside of the hole. Which will probably rust in our Buffalo, NY winters. Speaking of paint, it cost me $300 to get this bumper painted. The surface finish of the bumper had my painter doing extra prep work to make it look good. The welds and construction of the bumper are really well done. It is perhaps overkill and it weighs a ton for a shorty bumper (roughly 80 pounds). But I can live with that. I would've been much happier if it fit right the first time. Artec, please pay more attention to your mounting hole tolerances, chase & deburr your holes. Also, it couldn't hurt to chamfer the sharp edges of the bumper too. My hands would thank you.

So I had to mount the fog lights at a later time since it took so long to mount the bumper. The mounting holes for the stock LED fog lights lined up perfectly, but like I said before you can't use the stock mounting screws. Installing the fog lights after the bumper is installed is a pain in the ass. There's not a lot of room to work with tools, but it is possible. What's not possible, since the mounting holes aren't threaded is to get a nut on the outside of the LED because once the light is installed there's no room to access the nut from the front of the bumper. I was able to buy some stainless steel screws and put them in from the front of the bumper and could just get a thin screw driver in from the front, but only for the top two bolts, the bottom two bolts are not accessible by any means. There also is no means of adjusting the fog lights either. Artec also needs to redesign the bumper to move the location of the fog lights so you can easily reuse the factory wiring harness. The driver's side is no problem because the wires are super long. I actually had to tie them back. The passenger side is a different story. There's no easy way to get the connect to the LED. I was able to stretch it and make it work, but there's no stress relief on the wires. I'll probably have to lengthen it at some point.

I also purchased the sway bar guard. It appears to be well built, but again it didn't come with instructions. It does come with a small additional bracket that I can't figure out for the life of me where it goes. Again, some instructions would help. I haven't tried to mount it yet. I'll add a review once I do. I'm expecting more problems, but hoping for the best.

I will also mention that I have not been able to get any customer service. Artec does not answer their phones, nor do they return voicemails or respond to emails or the online review portions on their website. I tried installing this bumper on 5/3/18. I've left two voicemails, one review (this one) and an email that have all gone unanswered. I'm disappointed in such an expensive bumper. More so in the lack of customer support.

Sorry to hear about your lack of support, but it does look awesome!

 

[davbrucas]

Hello everyone, here's my honest review and experience with Artec and their Nighthawk front bumper and skid plate:

Admittedly I'm a little upset and disappointed. Neither the bumper, nor the sway bar guard came with installation instructions or torque values for the bolts. I was able to remove my stock bumper on my brand new 2018 JLUR in about 20 minutes. I spent the next 4.5 hours trying to get this bumper to bolt on. I had to drill larger clearance holes and grind my brand new frame with a dremel tool to get the bumper mounting bolts to sort of line up with their mounting holes in the bumper. After struggling to get all the bolts in I slightly cross threaded the last bolt after multiple attempts and just decided to leave it off until I can run a finishing tap through it to fix the threads. I probably took this bumper on and off 7 or 8 times to try to make adjustments to get it to fit. The next fun part was realizing that the bumper does in fact accept the stock LED fog lights, which is great, but it does not accept the stock fog light mounting hardware. That's ok though, I'll check the hardware bag... nope not included. More on the fog lights later...

I finally was able to get the bumper on (minus one mounting bolt) and it was time to mount the winch. The winch install surprisingly went well. However I wish Artec would chase & deburr their through holes. Of course the last bolt I was threading in wouldn't go through the hole due to a burr. An easy fix, but not what I wanted to run into as I'm trying to finish the install. One last fun surprise was the driver side D-ring mount hole was drilled too small and I had to use a dead blow hammer to pound the bolt through. Normally I wouldn't do that but I was so frustrated with the install I just wanted it done. It stripped off the paint on the D ring bolt and I'm sure the brand new paint on the inside of the hole. Which will probably rust in our Buffalo, NY winters. Speaking of paint, it cost me $300 to get this bumper painted. The surface finish of the bumper had my painter doing extra prep work to make it look good. The welds and construction of the bumper are really well done. It is perhaps overkill and it weighs a ton for a shorty bumper (roughly 80 pounds). But I can live with that. I would've been much happier if it fit right the first time. Artec, please pay more attention to your mounting hole tolerances, chase & deburr your holes. Also, it couldn't hurt to chamfer the sharp edges of the bumper too. My hands would thank you.

So I had to mount the fog lights at a later time since it took so long to mount the bumper. The mounting holes for the stock LED fog lights lined up perfectly, but like I said before you can't use the stock mounting screws. Installing the fog lights after the bumper is installed is a pain in the ass. There's not a lot of room to work with tools, but it is possible. What's not possible, since the mounting holes aren't threaded is to get a nut on the outside of the LED because once the light is installed there's no room to access the nut from the front of the bumper. I was able to buy some stainless steel screws and put them in from the front of the bumper and could just get a thin screw driver in from the front, but only for the top two bolts, the bottom two bolts are not accessible by any means. There also is no means of adjusting the fog lights either. Artec also needs to redesign the bumper to move the location of the fog lights so you can easily reuse the factory wiring harness. The driver's side is no problem because the wires are super long. I actually had to tie them back. The passenger side is a different story. There's no easy way to get the connect to the LED. I was able to stretch it and make it work, but there's no stress relief on the wires. I'll probably have to lengthen it at some point.

I also purchased the sway bar guard. It appears to be well built, but again it didn't come with instructions. It does come with a small additional bracket that I can't figure out for the life of me where it goes. Again, some instructions would help. I haven't tried to mount it yet. I'll add a review once I do. I'm expecting more problems, but hoping for the best.

I will also mention that I have not been able to get any customer service. Artec does not answer their phones, nor do they return voicemails or respond to emails or the online review portions on their website. I tried installing this bumper on 5/3/18. I've left two voicemails, one review (this one) and an email that have all gone unanswered. I'm disappointed in such an expensive bumper. More so in the lack of customer support.

Thanks for the info...I am in the market for a bumper and will avoid this one.

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