Looking for a front bumper

I have a 2017 4x4 SR Tacoma and I was almost in an accident, but even though I wasn't in the accident, a wheel assembly off of a Jeep managed to find my truck which was nearby. It hit the left front corner and pretty well screwed up the body work. It is still driveable but it is going to require bodywork. I do not like the painted front bumper as I drive this thing around off road quite a bit and the painted bumper is going to end up giving me problems. Is there a low profile winch bumper, that is relatively inexpensive, that I could put on instead? 7 Months ago I started a business with a friend and we are not flush with cash at this point, so I am going to have to make it affordable. I will actually have to save for a bit to be able to put a winch on it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/armor.182/

 

car-part.com

 

Close to Arkansas? You may be able to make a deal with Maxus. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...le-price-to-list-2017-tacoma-for-sale.850093/

 

A stubby front bumper is going to be a cost effect option, like the Body Armor 4x4 HiLine Series Front Bumper. If you're going for full front end protection, you're going to want something worth its weight, like the Fab Fours Ultra Light Hybrid Front Bumper.

 

When I hit a deer and was shopping around for an aftermarket bumper the Body Armor Hiline was the cheapest I could find. The Hiline with wings was under $1K. I was considering the aluminum Greenlane stump bumper with wings, but it would have cost a few hundred more and that's not including any shipping or potential import fees. Also, I had SS3 Max fogs prior to the accident and wanted to keep them where they are. With bumpers that go further up it was vague if they would accept the SS3's without fabricating some kind of bracket.

 

That sucks. Good luck

 

Check out Southern Style Offroad (SSO), love mine and has stood up to several decent pulls, easy install.

 

Problem is most bumpers required that piece under your headlight to be cut off the original cover and reinstalled. Yours is obviously damaged right there. Your options are very limited unless you get another bumper cover to cut those parts off of.

 

I think fab fours makes a full replacement but it would definitely not be cheap or low profile.

I think running 4 tacos used to have replacement pieces so you don't have to chop your bumper. But I can't think of a single full width bumper that is cheap and low pro. Not to mention light enough for stock suspension.

 

Problem with most of those bumpers above, still wouldn't have protected your Taco from that damage.

 

Love my bumper

Dude has solid build quality, good prices, and short lead times

https://athfab.com/product/2016-toyota-tacoma-front-bumper-2/



edit: forget a low pro bumper, those are ornamental, get real protection with full hoops

 

Calling them ornamental is rather arrogant. Granted slapping one on without a winch yeah there's no purpose.
But for those of us that want a the security of a winch with the smallest weight penalty possible they serve a major purpose.

 

Okay i was being kind of a dick about it, good for a winch i agree, useless for protection against a deer or really any type of collision

 

That would be a far more accurate statement.

The thing I have always been curious of in the event of a collision a solid bumper then transfers all of that energy directly to the frame instead of a absorbing crumple zone. What does that do to a safety rating and airbag deployment and how does insurance treat these things if if having that modification lead to additional injury and vehicle damage. As I'm sure the majority of us have "stock" trucks in the eyes of insurance.

 

This.
On the first gens, most steel bumpers just replace the stock bumper. Most of the ones I see for 3rd gens have you making a cut in the existing painted bumper and installing below. Frustrating, as you'll likely need a replacement/salvage stock bumper.

 

this is a great point. Too many variables for a straight answer, but you're right... most of us insure "stock" trucks.
My take (since I have a steel front bumper/winch on my 1st gen): if the collision is mild-moderate, the bumper is a huge plus as it protects grill/hood/fenders from damage. If it's major (bad enough to damage the frame), then I'm banking on seatbelts and airbags. If it's catastrophic (beak to beak with an 18-wheeler), it doesn't matter.

 

Good question, i’ve given it a lot of thought and done some research.

First, air bags deploy from g force sensors, so those dont get affected by adding a steelie

There is a thread on here called “steel bumpers after impacts” or titled something very similar. Looks like if you hit a deer the steelie absolutely demolishes flesh and bone and rarely even bends.

If you hit a brick wall type of scenario, i think you’d be taking on more risk without those factory crumple zones.

Fender bender situation, steel wins

In my opinion, animal strikes and fender benders are more likely where i live (knock on wood) than a head on collision. So i believe in the more likely types of collisions, steel will be safer but also in a catastrophic collision you could be fucked either way.

I will say, I have swerved off roading through clay mud at low speed and clipped a tree, would have crunched my front quarter if i had a low pro, instead i just scuffed the paint.

edit:
Found it
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/plate-bumpers-after-impact-with-pics.379600/

 

I know it’s not cheap, but I was recently in a Hilux while overseas and struck a feral donkey at high speed. Zero damage to the truck. Donkey didn’t fare so well. I’m putting an ARB Summit in my Gen 3 because of the deer here. I can attest to their effectiveness.

 

Thanks for all the feedback. I am not looking for something that is big or beefy, or has bull bars. I use my truck off road, but I do not rock crawl, go mudding, etc. I do not like painted bumpers because I am fairly hard on them driving over bushes, through tall grass, etc. It wears the paint off of them generally. I am looking for something that I could put on in place of the painted bumper, since I am having to put another bumper on it anyway, that might not be so large and that I could potentially mount a winch on. When I said low profile, I really meant not some huge steel bumper.