For those of you who have steel bumpers in the northern Rust Belt states

[Jeepbreath]

For those of you who have steel bumpers in the northern Rust Belt states, Do you have any issues with Rust developing. With all salt we have here in Buffalo New York, I’m just curious if I put a steel bumper on if I’m going to have any issues . Thanks in advance.

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[Glad_he_ate]

Steel plus salt =rust. Personally I’d look for aluminum

 

[NachoRuby]

No. Our jku came from Illinois originally, and we live in Pennsylvania. It's a 2016. No rust. It's painted, after all. It's no more likely to rust than any other steel part on the Jeep. The JT is a 2021, so isn't very old yet. But still, no problems. Ours both have the OE steel.

 

[JRobes]

My dad has a 2016 JK Rubicon that had the factory steel bumper and rails, his are all still fine and he drives it year round in South Dakota. I don't believe we're quite as bad as other states when it comes to the amount of salt/brine we put down though. I definitely wouldn't buy a chinese/cheap bumper if you're looking for good rust prevention, but a solid powdercoat from a US based company would be your best bet outside of factory kit.

 

[Jeepbreath]

Thank you Very much for the replies

 

[Bjeepz]

I've had a Warn stubby bumper go as long as 3 winters with no rust issues except in areas where I scratched the paint off on rocks. The factory steel bumpers seem to hold up really well also.

 

[J3colt]

I've had jeeps in PA for 30 years and always run steel bumpers. My jeeps get winter prepped, then spring clean up to keep rust away. POR15 on my older jeeps' frames and bumpers.

I'm a firm believer in if you take care of your equipment, your equipment will take care of you.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I have the cheap eBay knockoff - no rust, except the bolts. I plan on pulling them and prepping and re-plating them next batch of hardware I do for a customer. Otherwise the bumper itself is fine. I would "Assume" that if this bumper holds up, factory would do as well if not better.
So far, it's just the fasteners that face the front wheels where the sand, salt, rocks and road crap get slammed against the screw heads by the front tires, all other screws are fine, it's just those.

 

[Darel]

I have the cheap eBay knockoff - no rust, except the bolts. I plan on pulling them and prepping and re-plating them next batch of hardware I do for a customer. Otherwise the bumper itself is fine. I would "Assume" that if this bumper holds up, factory would do as well if not better.
So far, it's just the fasteners that face the front wheels where the sand, salt, rocks and road crap get slammed against the screw heads by the front tires, all other screws are fine, it's just those.

I have the cheap knockoff as well (sometimes I think ShadowsPapa and I were separated at birth), and mine came to me with a couple minuscule shipping scrapes, and some scrapes where I removed the outriggers. All them, as well as the welds, and the fasteners SP mentions were rusting within a week. Now, at $1400 for the factory unit and $500 for this one (really, $34 since an ice storm necesitating insurance replacing my plastic one), I'd still do it all over again. In fact even if I were to buy the knockoff, then send it to a powdercoater to have it dipped and re-coated the right way, it would still be less than half the cost of a new Mopar unit. Mine, I just touch it up with black paint when I see it. At $34 for the bumper (thanks Progressive) and $2 for the paint, I'm a happy camper.

If you are more concerned about it than that I strongly urge you to look into the knock-off that's made of aluminum, this for my money is the best of all worlds. It's still cheaper than the Mopar, but it was still about double the cost of the cheap knockoff I have.

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