BAMF VS CBI

I am stuck deciding between @CBI Offroad Fab and Bay Area Metal Fab. I was wondering if there is a reason to go with either, such as ones powder coating is better, or one has better customer service and stands by their product more. I have noticed that BAMF is a little cheaper (100 ish dollars) but that adds up quickly and it is very expensive to upgrade tacomas and i am trying to save money where i can. (sorry if this is a little jumbled)

 

What are you looking at ordering from each company..?

also, regarding powder coat— since you’re in TX and the companies you’re buying from are not.. id suggest getting them bare metal and do the powder local once they arrive. I assume you’re getting armor and shipping it half way across the states it’s bound to get dinged up anyways.

I’ve ordered sliders from BAMF, took a while but was accurate based on timeframe quoted after a busy tax time sale. Jerry was super responsive to my emails. I’ve only ordered a battery box from CBI and it was through one of their vendors, painless. I have seen threads on here mentioning bad/non-existent customer service and shit lead times, however...

 

I am looking to order sliders, front and rear bumpers, and skid plates

 

I’m looking for some skids and these are two of the leading candidates. Sub’d.

 

Yep! I love the sliders I have and they have all ready saved my truck once. Slider are the way to go, can't really go wrong, I don't believe, with the two choices you mentioned.

 

BAMF. They helped a lot of people with the whole Pelfrey meltdown. I have their DCLB sliders and am happy. BAMF’s powder coat is better (thermoplastic) and construction is bomber. Plus I’m a dick, and not that the CBI guy is a dick, but for some reason, maybe just because I’m a prick, the CBI social media Mo/Bro/guy annoys the piss out of me... both build solid product, but I’d go BAMF. Although BAMF offers less AL stuff, so if you are looking at AL this gets harder.

 

Can’t go wrong with either. Buy what you like.

 

Neither. BAMF's stuff is too heavy and overly thick. CBI stuff is too expensive. Go with Relentless and RCI.

 

There is a reason. They’re like football teams. The cost of shipping football teams is insane. Which ever is closest to you and part of your region is what you get. Support them no matter what.

Goodbye chargers, hello patriots.

 

Bamf’s stuff is not too heavy depending on what terrain you wheel it’s down low. Aluminum skids don’t do shit for protection in rocks. 1/4 5052 aluminum which is what everyone’s aluminum skids are doesn’t slide easy like steel and bends really easy.

 

pretty much if you are going to wheel the truck even remotely hard get steel, if not pretty much all aluminum skids are about the same strength, BAMF and Mobtown actually gusset there aluminum skids and are better than everyone else’s crap skids.

 

BAMF is a great company, has great customer service, and he does a lot for our community. I really like the look of his new hybrid bumpers too. Helped install one on my friends truck this week. I run his sliders, hangers, behind grill light mount, and all his skids. Very happy with how they have performed.

I agree that aluminum will just bend if you wheel hard.

I dont have any experience with CBI or their products, but would recommend BAMF from my experiences with the company and their products.

 

I haven't purchased anything from either one but when I was shopping for rock sliders I narrowed it down to CBI vs RCI after watching some YouTube installation videos and seeing who had the best bolt on rock sliders in terms of materials (HREW vs DOM) that were also simple to install myself without using a bunch of weird adapters, brackets, and cutting/drilling (believe it or not some companies even require cutting/drilling to install bolt on rock sliders). I believe that the installation of the product is just as important as other factors like design, material, cost, manufacturing process, customer support, etc.

I actually made a thread with a poll to ask other owners who they thought was better (CBI or RCI) and RCI won overwhelmingly: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rci-vs-cbi-sliders-help-me-decide-between-the-two.661460/

One of the reasons I went with RCI too is because CBI was charging me like $300 more in shipping costs to ship sliders to me because they live so far away from South Florida. Looking at the designs of both products though between BAMF and CBI...

Skid Plates:

BAMF: http://www.bayareametalfab.com/2005-2020-Tacoma-IFS-skid_p_56.html
CBI: https://cbioffroadfab.com/product/3rd-gen-tacoma-skid-plates/
RCI: https://rcimetalworks.com/product/05-19-tacoma-full-skid-package-deal-copy/

All 3 companies offer either aluminum or steel skids (I suggest steel because I heard aluminum bends easier). The CBI skids have holes all over the skid plate to let the fluids drain out without pooling inside the skid plates if you go over an area with water, mud, etc.. I believe that this is a better design than the RCI and BAMF skids because their skids look more like a solid piece of metal with only 1-2 small drain holes. Both the CBI and RCI Skids have a little access panel to make oil changes easier without having to remove the whole skid plate every time you do an oil change (which I like because less worry about the service technicians stripping the bolts by constantly removing the skids during your 2 years of free ToyotaCare maintenance). BAMF doesnt seem to have the little access panel on their skids for oil changes like CBI and RCI do.

You could get the skids in bare metal to save money on the skids and then hire a local paint shop to put primer on them and paint them the color of your truck, it would make the truck look unique with color matching skid plates or you could paint it yourself if you want to save some money and make it easier to do touch ups.

Rock Sliders:

BAMF: http://www.bayareametalfab.com/2005...80-bolt-on-with-a-kick-out-Sliders-_p_81.html
CBI: https://cbioffroadfab.com/product/bolt-on-rock-sliders-3rd-gen-tacoma-2/
RCI: https://rcimetalworks.com/product/2016-tacoma-rock-sliders/

I personally went with RCI 5 degree sliders because they were DOM, let me choose the angle and I wanted to use them as steps as well, and the inner tubes are 2" square tubes instead of the 1.75" circular tubes that CBI uses, and shipping was like $300 cheaper to my location. I still havent received my sliders (I ordered them on 04/24/2020 so its been 2 weeks longer than the 5 weeks listed on the RCI lead time page) but I understand that with covid-19 and the recent protest going on around the country that it might be harder to make this stuff with all the things going on right now.

I would suggest that you compare the material of the sliders, the thickness, the angle, the design, the shipping costs, and decide which company you like better.

 

I'm all for steel too. That's what I got. But when it comes to thickness and weight you quickly get diminishing returns.
Out here in SoCal Demelo makes some good rock sliders. And War Fab makes some really cool minimalistic front and back bumpers.
Rock crawling or not, weight matters - a lot. Adding all this stuff we all buy for our tacomas adds up fast. A lot of it's not needed or hurts performance.1/4 inch steel is not needed, unless you're driving a tank through Mogadishu.

 

I have CBI front and rear T3 series which i love but i just recently sold my rear bumper for BAMF's new high clearance bumper. the build quality is amazing from both but i think @JLee at BAMF puts in that extra bit of customer service, being active on the forums, build quality and innovating. each is going to have lead times so to go into that as your reason to not go with one or the other shouldn't unless your in dire need at the time. just go with what you like looks/function wise and you wont really go wrong. plus like others have suggested theres a lot of other good companies on here that make some great stuff as well such as C4Fab, Mobtown etc.

 

This is why you need 1/4 steel if you wheel in rocks. The weight difference between 3/16 and 1/4 is not very much and if you buy an 1/8 steel skid that would be retarded. This happened from doing heart break ridge/Pontiac sluice, Gold mountain and John Bull Trails in one day up in big bear (one day). If you don’t wheel in rocks, like I said before pretty much any other skid will work ok. Aluminum skids would have literally gone in the trash after one day of wheeling, 3/16 would have bent enough to possibly repair. 1/4 steel took a beating to get straight. I’ve bent and broke enough parts in the last ten years to know what works and what doesn’t. What would be super cool is if someone made some 5/16 or 3/8 7075 aluminum skids for these trucks, only issue is it can’t be bent at a sharp angle like these trucks need to be and not break. I use 7075 on all the rock crawling rigs I have built and it holds up pretty damn good and it’s light. I listened to someone like you when I was first buying my skids and quickly regretted it, wasted my money, and was not able to sell them because they weren’t in sellable condition and in the end did all 1/4 steel skids. The front ifs skid almost always takes the most hits and damage, the trans takes the 2nd most followed by the t case at 3rd, rear diff 4th and lastly the gas tank as far as skids go. If you aren’t hitting stuff in this order, you’re either not on the correct line for your rig, or you do trails you probably shouldn’t do like I do.

 

I added these light weight OCF sliders a while back. I mostly stay on the desert power line, and forest service roads. They saved my rocker panel on a recent adventure.

 

For those with the BAMF, how much of a pain in the neck is it to drop the skid for an oil change? Also, has anyone tried their luck with Toyota doing it under their free 2 years of service thing?

 

Well for one the skid weighs 80 lbs, so not really easy to just pull it off by hand, can I do it? yes, but I don’t like it. I can get mine off in about 2 mins with my jack and a block of wood and back on in a few mins as well. I highly doubt Toyota will remove any aftermarket skid at no cost but For sure they won’t remove this one for free unless you just get lucky because I sure the hell would complain if I was doing it for a free or cheap oil change.

 

Yeah, all of that makes sense and is probably why I'm leaning towards RCI or Mobtown.

I assume nobody offers a 1/4" steel skid with oil change cutouts?