Very dissopointed in this Westin Bull bar I have...I need opinons..

[Mountaineer02v8]

Well, out of two years I have had my Black Bull bar on this 02 Mountaineer, I went through 2 Bull bars.

Last year by accident, I somehow forgot to put the Mountaineer in park as I got out of the truck for work. Long story short, the truck rolled down a hill and rear ended a Chevy pickup truck. No damage to the Mountaineer, the Bull bar took the force and dented the bar to hell, which I had to buy a new Bar.

Now a year later, the new bar is now rusting from the inside out. I was told by Westin that it is a known problem for the powder coated Black to rust! (if I knew that I would never have bought it.)

Westin recommended me to buy the all stainless steal Bull bar that has a Lifetime warranty against rust. That would be fine, but the only thing I'm concerned about is what the stainless bar would look like on my truck VS the black one I have on there now.

If I switch to stainless, would it look bad?

heres a pic what the black one look like on..

 

[mattferkey]

i have the same problem that you do... if you take your bar into a body shop and ask them to put some seal out in it, it will never rust period. seal out is a rustproof that is yellow in color and very much resembles earwax. it soaks into the metal like oil, and spreads and creeps to every nook and cranny.

 

[Mountaineer02v8]

i have the same problem that you do... if you take your bar into a body shop and ask them to put some seal out in it, it will never rust period. seal out is a rustproof that is yellow in color and very much resembles earwax. it soaks into the metal like oil, and spreads and creeps to every nook and cranny.

its probably to late to seal it out now that it is rusting though? I never knew you could do that.

 

[mattferkey]

the seal out will preserve the shape it is in now... it will not rust anymore... if the bar still is in good cosmetic shape on most of the visibal surface, I would say get the seal out put in it and put it back on.

 

[Mountaineer02v8]

the seal out will preserve the shape it is in now... it will not rust anymore... if the bar still is in good cosmetic shape on most of the visibal surface, I would say get the seal out put in it and put it back on.

can I buy this stuff and do it myself or do I have to take it in?

 

[storlied]

It might not look too bad considering the color of your grill. It's really what You think about it. If You like it or not.

 

[mattferkey]

can I buy this stuff and do it myself or do I have to take it in?

i work at a body shop and i have only seen it in 5 gallon pails. i also havent ever seen it at a store. If you take off the bar yourself and take it in to a small shop, they will make a deal and work it out with cash. 5 or 10$

 

[stanger_missle]

First off, that is a great looking Merc!

Secondly, I don't think stainless would look bad at all. With the color of your grill and the headlights, I think it would look pretty good.

I dig the monochromatic them you are going with, but stainless would look good too. Just my .02...

Other than the rusting issue, how is the Westin Bull Bar? I want to buy one for my 04 Explorer XLT 4x4. Mine is silver though. I want the stainless version because of the color of my X, so I am in the same boat as you...

 

[Donner]

What color is your Ex?

 

[not8taxi]

westin bull bar gets an A+ from me...saved my front end from a small crash..hit the divider and the bull bar took the majority of the impact...i bought the black one myself since my 02 ex is black...rusting issue sux ...i always think about that also...maybe if you take off the rust and repaint it ..it might help...let me know if you find a way to save it...might have to do it to mine also

 

[Donner]

x2, excellent product!

 

[mazda3zoom]

i used to own a truck shop in michigan and we could get westin black stainless.....

 

[Donner]

Welcome!

Now you can't even find black stainless... what happened?

 

[2005explorer]

I would like to keep it black!! for sure!!! BTW it looks great!!!

 

[asimp]

What about painting the stainless? You could always go that route if it doesn't turn out like you want