xxx

Greybrick wrote: Here's the test data Steve, the testing critirion are outlined in this document. Generally Europe is several years ahead of North American safety standards. I know of local companies that are still struggling with ISO concepts.

Thanks for the links. I can fully appreciate adopting these rules for the EU, where population densities & pavement pedestrians are quite high. I looked through their site, but can't find any info as to how durable these things are. My guess is that if it drastically reduces injury to a pedestrian, it won't do squat if one were to hit a deer, cow, horse, etc. Especially out here in the west. Our poor Aussie friends have to deal with roo splatterings all the time, and most of their bull/roo bars are pretty impressive. My parents have bars on their vehicles because of all the wild horses that wander onto the roads where they live. I don't have much in terms of wildlife where I'm at, but I would certainly like more protection up front simply because some of the roads I take are completely overgrown with dense vegitation. I just noticed a couple of days ago that I have a few deep gouges on the bottom of my driver's front bumper, yet I have no idea how that got there. That makes me want to get some kind of protection up front sooner, rather than later.

xxx

Greybrick wrote: Have a read through the Team Poly comments section. Team Poly has been around for about 15 years building poly type bars specifically for roos and larger animals. I'd compare Australian driving conditions as similar to or higher than western Canada and US in terms of animal accident potential. They don't have any moose in Oz though which require something like a 10 foot high grill guard or fence to keep them bastards out of the windsheild.

Okay, that helped...a lot. I'm sold. Where do I sign up? I'll be the guinea pig, as long as there is no cutting involved & the price isn't astronomical to ship it to the US.

xxx

Nice Find GB, Not quite as aesthetically pleasing to me as the ARB bumper IMO. But if I were to practice what I preach I'd definitely check it out. I'd like the option for a winch if I'm going as far as to remove the bumper...

I know these are on a Frontier but these shrockworks units are nice:
I'm a fan of the prerunner style

If I ever see this guy I'm jackin his wheels and tires

and the profile


this is the more traditional style

Greybrick wrote:

I think I'd prefer the UK bull bar only. The more I look at the above photo, the more I don't like it.

Hi Guys,
I work for concept mouldings, the manufacturers of Endura as brand manager,
i can answer any questions about the Endura product you have.
Don't forget that as you are outside the EU you will not pay purchase tax (vat) nut shipping to the states is expensive. The testing we did can be seen on our home page www.endura-fps.com we are about to do some more testing to show the reduction in vehicle damage at Thatcham which is the UK motor insurance research centre, so that we can sho insurance companies that fitting an Endura should reduce insurance premiums. Don't forget also that Endura FPS's can all be fitted with spot lamps to the integrated fiiting positions. see here. http://www.endura-fps.com/webstore/uplo ... ts/899.pdf
As I said any questions about the product I can answer.
Cheers

pthomp52 wrote:Hi Guys,
we are about to do some more testing to show the reduction in vehicle damage at Thatcham which is the UK motor insurance research centre, so that we can sho insurance companies that fitting an Endura should reduce insurance premiums.

The vehicle damage you are speaking of-I'm guessing that you mean the vehicle with the Endura FPS? Or do you mean the vehicle that gets hit by a vehicle with the Endura FPS?

I think our insurance is a bit different. The only breaks we get on premiums are related to passenger & vehicle safety. I don't think any of the insurance companies here would care one way or the other with the installation of a small bull bar. Having said that, I really like what I see. I just wish the dollar wasn't tanking so bad.

As I said any questions about the product I can answer.

I was just looking at the 2 page installation instructions for the Pathfinder. The metal brackets that the Endura mounts to-what exactly are those bolted to? The instructions make it look like it's attached to plastic, but I can't imagine it would be. Could you provide us with some insight to that?

xxx

NVSteve,
In answer to your questions, yes we do mean the damage to the vehicle fitted with an FPS. Thatcham are the UK motor insurers research centre and they do a test which is the insurance industry standard test to establish the likely cost of repair and therefore the group rating given to vehicles which is the basis of the premium calcualtion. This test is basically drive the car at 6mph into a brick wall and assess the repair cost based on a massive datatbase of information.

As far as the fitting is concerned, I am informed by our projects director, the Navara/Pathfinder FPS is fitted to metal brackets which are fitted to strategic points on the front of the vehicle to work in harmony with the most rigid parts of the deformable front end. The brackets are designed to deflect before the upper grille panel as well as the part istelf deflecting.

Greybrick,
In answer to your question refernce a 2000lb animal, the product is designed to save the life of a human average weight 200lb at 30mph. Not save the front of the car when hitting a 2000lb animal. These two things are pretty much mutually incompatible. There will be a lower amount of damage for sure, but the energy is dependant on the speed at which you hit something (ref calcualtion is 1/2x mass x velocity squared)
so dependant on what speed you hit the 2000lb animal will depend on on the damage to vehicle. I think you will find that no manufacturer will attempt to suggest what max weight you can hitt with thier products, as it depends entirely on the speed at which you hit the object.

Temperature wise the product is made form Polyurethane and is tested down to -40 deg c, sorry don't know the farenheit scale. We supply the Frontal Protection Systems that Landrover sell as accessories to Landrover and they are made in much the same way and from the same materials. These have been tested according to the Landrover specs at -40 degrees and have had nop problems at all..

If you would like dimensions,
The Zeus and Athena are 750mm wide, 570mm tall and at the top 110mm thick and at the bumper 160mm thick plus the infill mouldings which go between the bumper and the bar which are different on every vehicle to suit the vehicle.

Hope that all helps.

Paul

It's amazing isn't it ? I've been looking for something like your FPS for ages for my Pathfinder without success. Then I go and find that what I'm looking for is made 4 miles up the road from where I live !
I may be in touch...

Cheers.

Brit,
In case you had not seen the web site, we are currently offering free fitting at our factory if you can bring your car to us in working hours (up to about 6 pm. If you can't do that let me know and we'll see if we can work something out.

www.endura-fps.com

pthomp52 wrote: As far as the fitting is concerned, I am informed by our projects director, the Navara/Pathfinder FPS is fitted to metal brackets which are fitted to strategic points on the front of the vehicle to work in harmony with the most rigid parts of the deformable front end. The brackets are designed to deflect before the upper grille panel as well as the part istelf deflecting.

Thanks for the reply. Do you happen to have any photos of the bracket attachment points? I looked at my front end over the weekend, but found only plastic, plastic, plastic. I know there is metal behind it all, but between what you wrote & the installation diagrams from your site, I'm still a bit perplexed as to how these are attached. For instance, any of the bull bars one can purchase & install for the Pathfinder here in the States is mounted directly to the frame, with no mounts above the frame.

Here are a couple of videos that we have uploaded to Youtube of the testing and a UK TV programme that featured the product Police Camera Action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQMSixOY4sw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew-kkypq ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i8KU-n4 ... re=related