Tubular Bumper Support?

[NotQuik]

Was just curious if any body has replaced the factory front bumper support with a tubular one? What are the Pros/Cons?

The only reason I'm looking is for clearance purposes and i'm not fond of cutting into the factory support to acheive this.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

 

[s8v4o]

The general consensus from many people here is that if you have that in your car and you get into an accident at 20 MPH that you'll immediately die!!! That's still up for debate in my opinion.

 

[swflastang05]

I had to cut out the back of my OEM bumper to clear my IC. Didn't really want to but if I wanted both a big radiator and IC I had no choice. I wonder if the tubular version is stronger than a hacked up OEM bumper.

 

[jodadejss06gt]

I'd like to go with one because a large amount of my IC is tucked up under it. Trying to free up a little flow. I know JPC makes one.

 

[Bud]

I wouldn't do it if it sees ALOT of street miles, for an occasional driver it is just a risk to accept like everything else.

I'm running the JPC one. It makes for a ton of extra room up front and takes a good amount of weight off the very front of the car. Nice piece

 

[NotQuik]

I wonder if the tubular version is stronger than a hacked up OEM bumper.

That's basically my main question. You obviously loose some structural integrity by cutting material out of the factory one and the tubular one actually looks fairly rigid plus as mentioned would free up quite a bit of space.

I've browsed around at pictures of both s197 and SN95 cars with intercoolers and was quite suprised at the amount of chopped supports. A couple of them were cut from front to back which only left a couple inches across the top keeping each side attached...

I've seen the ford racing support but don't care for the hook hanging out of the bumper. If I went through with it i'd likely lean towards the JPC support.

Also, my car is an occassional driver and even then to some (my wife and friends) that may be debatable.


Thanks for the responses everyone

 

[skwerl]

As little as you drive it I wouldn't be too concerned about the lack of structure in the racing bumper support. I wouldn't go that route on my car but I drive it almost 20K miles per year.

 

[LS1EATINPONY]

Heck you have an airbag.... What you worried about?