New Brush Guards

[bigdave269]

After talking about it for a long time, I finally bought and installed the brush guards I always wanted. Although I am not trying to write a commercial, I bought them from xccessory.com, an on-line store that has many parts available for all makes and models of vehicles.

The Grill Guard (AROT-6050) and the Tail Light Guards (AROT-T5594) are made by Aries. I opted for the black ones, although they have Black/Chrome available.

There were a couple minor annoyances with this order, but as you can see, everything came out alright. First, Aries had packed the wrong passenger side mount, and I had to have them ship out a new mount to go under the truck, which delayed my installation. Second, the passenger side tail light guard was not fitted properly. It was rubbing the tailgate, and the holes did not line up to the tail light mounting screws; they were about a quarter-inch off. Some minor tweaking on my part got the mount to fit properly, but Aries should properly fit test it and adjust the sizing. The driver's side installed with no problem, and clears the tailgate both ways.

As for dealing with xccessory.com, they were on top of everything and kept in touch with me via e-mail before and after the order. Julie worked hard to make sure I was happy. Any company can make a mistake in terms of shipping the wrong part, the mark of a good company is how well they back up their sales. xccessory.com did a good job.

Now that I have written that review, here are the pictures of the finished product. My wife was dubious at first, but now she sees that it looks great, and she likes it, too! 8)

[bigdave269]

By the way, installation took a little over three hours total. I had to buy new plastic body locks to pin the plastic splash shield back to the truck after I had trimmed it to fit the mounts underneath. The old ones disintegrated as I was pulling them out. That procedure probably took as long as anything else. If you have any other questions about the mounting, shoot me an e-mail.

[CR-V]

RE: your recent upgrade, the Grille Brush Guard looks awesome (sweet). But gotta be honest with you, IMHO the tail light guards in the expanded view photo (061008 00009W) just seem too big and cumbersome the way they hang out unlees they look different in real life (please don't take wrong just my 02).

PS: Your new Avatar, Would love that that decal on the back window of my Ridge "what's the source??)

[bigdave269]

CR-V wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")
RE: your recent upgrade, the Grille Brush Guard looks awesome (sweet). But gotta be honest with you, IMHO the tail light guards in the expanded view photo (061008 00009W) just seem too big and cumbersome the way they hang out unlees they look different in real life (please don't take wrong just my 02).

PS: Your new Avatar, Would love that that decal on the back window of my Ridge "what's the source??)


Looking at the picture acgain, I notice the picture does make it look awkward. I think that is more an effect of the camera angle, because it looks better than that in "real life." The passenger side does stick out a bit more at the bottom because of the tweaking I needed to do to keep it from rubbing the tailgate, but the tweak was no more than an eighth-inch.

As for the seal, I made it myself on this website I found. They do all kinds of gag items that allow you to put your own writing on church signs and record labels, etc. The site is: http://www.says-it.com/

I made a couple different Ridgeline logos, here are the "full size" attachments suitable for transfering to your own computer. I don't think it would be a problem to get a sticker place to make you the one you want.

[killerv]

Well, I have searched high and low on this site for users with an aftermarket bull bar, so I guess I was the first one to take the plunge.

I just had installed a Stainless Westin Ultimate Bull Bar on my silver RL. Looks great, was sort of worried since I never could find any pictures on an actual truck. I did find a computer generated picture which helped me decide. It is attached. Let me get my truck clean and I will post pictures of the bull bar on my truck. It was well worth the time investigating different possibilities and it is definitely a solid and sturdy piece of equipment.

I bought it from a local LineX dealer which had better prices than anywhere I found online. They said this was because LineX dealers have a certain contract with Westin. Anyway, it was definitely cheaper.

[rms56]

Looks like Aries made some design changes. Very nice.

[Cool Cat]

bigdave269 wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")
After talking about it for a long time, I finally bought and installed the brush guards I always wanted. Although I am not trying to write a commercial, I bought them from xccessory.com, an on-line store that has many parts available for all makes and models of vehicles.

The Grill Guard (AROT-6050) and the Tail Light Guards (AROT-T5594) are made by Aries. I opted for the black ones, although they have Black/Chrome available.

There were a couple minor annoyances with this order, but as you can see, everything came out alright. First, Aries had packed the wrong passenger side mount, and I had to have them ship out a new mount to go under the truck, which delayed my installation. Second, the passenger side tail light guard was not fitted properly. It was rubbing the tailgate, and the holes did not line up to the tail light mounting screws; they were about a quarter-inch off. Some minor tweaking on my part got the mount to fit properly, but Aries should properly fit test it and adjust the sizing. The driver's side installed with no problem, and clears the tailgate both ways.

As for dealing with xccessory.com, they were on top of everything and kept in touch with me via e-mail before and after the order. Julie worked hard to make sure I was happy. Any company can make a mistake in terms of shipping the wrong part, the mark of a good company is how well they back up their sales. xccessory.com did a good job.

Now that I have written that review, here are the pictures of the finished product. My wife was dubious at first, but now she sees that it looks great, and she likes it, too! 8)


Your brush guard looks pretty much like the one from JC Whitney, the one from Burtman Industries and the one available on eBay. The only difference I can tell from pictures is the price. Have you been able to compare yours in person to any of the other ones?

[bigdave269]

So what did you pay?

[killerv]

bigdave269 wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")
So what did you pay?


Well, I wanted the Westin because I liked the contrast between the chrome plated stainless bar and the stainless skid plate. Also, the way it mounted seemed to be sturdier than the installation notes I found on other bull bars. Installed, it cost me $391 + tax.

[bigdave269]

Did you take out that whole plastic underside protector from the front to install it? The Aries only needed it trimmed. Just curious...

[killerv]

bigdave269 wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")
Did you take out that whole plastic underside protector from the front to install it? The Aries only needed it trimmed. Just curious...



Took it off to install, put it back on a trimmed where needed.

[bigdave269]

Well, it looks awesome. It has the skid plate that mine does not. Thanks for putting it up for us to see. I think it's great that so much is available for us to give our trucks a custom look!

[wb1dby]

I like your brush guard and am thinking about adding one to my ridge. I saw a few with them this summer and they looked great. But I have a RTX and it has no fog lights. After driving thru a foggy rain storm (scary and with moose warnings on the road - we did barley see 2) last week in NH, even my wife is convinced that I need some sort of fog lights too. So based on this info, can lights be added to your bar? I know some of the Westin bars accept lights. Also any thoughts as for what lights to get? Pencil beam or wide angle? White or yellow (does that color really help?). Thanks for any suggestions. - Larry

[killerv]

I had a black brush guard on my last truck made by Manik. I live in Georgia and it can get fairly hot and humid down here and it didn't take but about two years for the black finish to start bubbling up, flake away, and start to rust. It wasn't just Manik, I have noticed other manufacturer's black finish brush guards in the area do the same thing. It never got out of hand on mine but it was enough to tick me off. When it would start to bubble in areas, I would just sand it down with some fine sand paper down to the metal and touch it up so it wouldn't rust. Just a word of caution, you may run into this in the next few years.

[bigdave269]

My brush guard has pre-drilled holes for mounting fog lights, and they have protective plastic caps to cover them an keep the clean look. Since I added the stock fog lights, I havn't bought ones for the brush guard. Yet. :roll:

:lol:

By the way, in SoCal, rust is rarely a problem. We are just too dry and hot.

[wb1dby]

Looks Great! Can you mount fog or other lights on the front?

[LadyRidge]

A brush guard will definately be my next accessory. :D

[wb1dby]

Has anyone ever bought from:

http://search.stores.ebay.com/GoGoParts_ridgeline_W0QQfciZQ2d1QQfclZ4QQfsnZGoGoPartsQQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQfsubZ1QQsaselZ339751937QQsofpZ0

The prices are considerably less than elsewhere. But is the product as good as Westin or others?

[marino88]

This is my new brush guard.
I got it from Burtman industries.
Fit well ang good quality!

[wb1dby]

It looks great!

I want one too, but to ship it out to me here in MA. It'll cost an extra $120-$150 in shipping which I think is ridiculous. So I'm holding out with the hopes of finding someone along the eastern seaboard that can ship me one for much less than that.