What aftermarket bumper is the best

OP, if you have any questions about my products feel free to contact me.
Good luck with your search and making a decision on your husbands gift!

 

ato, relentless, cbi or arb imo this should just about conclude your choices. i have the arb on my truck its a heavy bastard but, very strong!

relentless can make an aluminum bumper that would keep the weight down up front. the reason the weight is important is because the suspension will need to be beefed up to handle some of these heavier plate steel bumper's and that opens a whole different can of worms for the both of you.

the arb will need new coils to not nose dive like crazy when stopping abruptly.

btw jandrews bumper is slick as snot the ato hybrid is a very nice looking and i'm positive tough bumper. either way here is a shot of mine look for a bumper with the frame straps as well because if he ever decides to throw a winch in there you want the load to be evenly distrubted across the bumper so you don't damage anything.

 

I personally would pick the ato hybrid I plan to get one in the future! Best of both worlds

 

Relentless Fabrication Aluminum Bumper

 

^^^^^^^This.
I'm very picky too. I do tons of research on anything I purchase. We choose Relentless for the bumpers and sliders for my wife's truck for the great looks, great assumed quality (never seen any in person just going off of pictures and word of mouth), his attention to detail on the small things and he is a young guy starting his own business. The wait time was pretty long but he did move to a different state and is still building up his product line. Her stuff ships this week so we finally will be able to see it in person soon!

 

You won't be disappointed

 

Another thing to look into is winches. Almost all the plate bumpers will allow you to mount a winch to them, but only a couple tube bumpers are equipped for it.

The type of offroading plays a factor too. If he likes driving fast and jumping his truck a tube style bumper is more appropriate. The weight is lower on these, but they still provide impact protection. The downside is the tubing usually has large gaps that leave your truck vulnerable to protrusions.

If he is into a more exploration type of offroading where he will be going slower and crawling over obstacles a plate bumper may be more appropriate. Since the bumpers are made entirely of plate your truck has a more complete protection from protrusions. The ability to mount a winch will also help get you over obstacles.

 

NICE PICS!!!!!!!!!

 

ARB- Proven product with safety in mind...

 

Agreed, I can't say it enough. The Ausies really know their shit when it comes to off road equipment (10% of their roads are paved). Their bumpers don't scream Bro and look great on a stock truck.

 

I totally understand. I wouldn't want to buy him something that he doesn't like. The truth be told, the tacoma is both of our thing. Sometimes I think I love the off-roading more then he does. He wouldn't research his choices that well. So I try to at least narrow down which ones are the overall best performing. And then if a clear choice is not there, he then only has a few to chose from.

 

That is another thing that I was curious about. To get a wench or not to get one. I see that most MFG's sale them, but I really don't see too many trucks on the road with them.

 

i love my arb they are widely availible come powder coated and have the option of a pretty nice set of running lights turn signals and fog lights.

mine is a beast it looks bad ass imo. they are designed correctly geometry is used to take the strength of the bumper higher than most they are approved for on road use and approved by insurance companies.they are also roo tested lol have a nice frame strap design to evenly distribute the load found when winching bumpers with out that strap tend to not hold up to winching very well.

ato relentless and arb make some of the best imo i would ask him which one he like better than surprise him with it.

 

So for his birthday print up a gift certificate with pics of a couple of choices and put it in a card. I wish I was getting one for my birthday.

 

i just installed a warn m8000 in mine

edit: i have a question for you what on his truck already suspension wise? if he is running the stock suspension you going to be introuble with the arb and forget about a winch in it with out getting a new suspension set-up. i had mentioned this before but, wanted to make sure that this was being taken into consideration.

 

Your truck is super clean looking. I like that everything matchs. Did the airbag factor weigh in when you decided to go with ARB. I have small children that my honey takes to school. So I didn't know if that should be a determining factor.

 

The newer trucks don't have airbag sensors in the bumpers and will work just fine.

 

how long did you go without a winch? I am wondering if I should order one with the bumper?

 

Do you have a sister? I need to get married to someone like you. Lucky man.

 

If you think you will order one, get it with the bumper. It will be easier to deal with. Otherwise, you will have to take the bumper off to install it.