Help Me Decide on a New Front Bumper

I am looking at investing in a new front bumper setup and would love some input from you all on which you think would look best on the rig. My truck is a white 2016 DCLB TRD Sport 4x4. Here are a couple a pics of the current setup:




As for the options I am considering, I really like the CBI covert front bumper or the Relentless Fabrication hybrid front bumper. I am in between on the OEM+ front end and going all in with Relentless Fab bumper. I think I'll likely go with the full Relentless Bumper for tire clearance & those more aggressive trails that may require some additional front end protection / departure angle. Plus, they just look badass. I am in between on going with the Stealth look or the Summit look. I like how clean & simple the stealth look is, but have always loved the stinger style bumpers. Any input on these options?

CBI Covert Front Bumper Option (OEM+ look):



Relentless Fab Hybrid Front Bumper (Stealth):



Relentless Fab Hybrid Front Bumper (Summit):

 

steel full hoops not much to pick from

 

Summit hybrids are one of our top sellers, cant go wrong with one! It gets our vote
Very strong, while being reasonable weight and gets great clearance.

 

This. Hoopless bumpers are better than nothing in a deer/animal impact, but they're nowhere near as good as a full hoop bumper.

If you are certain you're never going to accidentally hit a deer, cow, elk, etc. it doesn't matter.

If there's a chance you'll ever hit a large animal it can be the difference between zero to light cosmetic damage vs. severe, even crippling damage to the front end, eg. a punctured or cracked radiator that leaks out by the side of the road. It is not uncommon for unprotected front ends on Tacomas (and many other vehicles of all kinds) to be totalled & written off due to large animal strikes.

Consider also ARB™ for full-hoop/full-coverage bumpers.

 

I had a Pelfeybilt plate bumper before. I dropped a corner on a ledge and it bent the bumper, sending it into the fender and headlight. For the replacement I chose an because it's the only hybrid-style bumper with triangulated side tubing:

 

The one on the red Tacoma.

 

The bumper is coming off. Over a thousand is being spent on steel.

Probably worth picking a good one at that time. It's a one and done mod.

Not just animal impact. Vehicle impact.

In the case of ARB, they may not be the only full hoop out there
but they are valuable and more available.
So it is possible to get one within a week, install it. Say you like another brand, order that, 6mo lead time, when it's done, swap them out resell the ARB.
Though right now with my ARB (it doesn't stick out the most) I don't really see the point of that. Already has lights. Black. Skid. Can mount things on it. Don't really see a point to switch.

 

Agreed

 

IMO the CBI unless you are going to put 35's on and/or do a bunch of rock crawling.

 

Man I love these new rock runner bumpers from C4...

https://tacomabeast.com/collections...6-2023-toyota-tacoma-rock-runner-front-bumper

 

Good looking truck man and thanks for the input!

 

These are sick. Didn’t realize C4 made that bumper. It’s cool that it’s modular too.

For my purposes, I think I wanna stick to something that is welded instead of modular, but still a badass option. Thanks for the input!

 

Thanks for the reply @RelentlessFab! Thanks for your input and for making an awesome product!

 

Yeah I like the CBI a lot too. Just super simple and functional. I’m planning to swap my 33s with 35s sometime this spring and I do quite a bit rock crawling terrain here in CO so I think that the extra clearance on the relentless bumper will be beneficial. Thanks for your input man!

 

ARB is one of the few options that is designed to work your airbags. Any others and there’s a chance your airbags don’t deploy in a head on collision.

 

yes

 

Cool bumpers for sure, I don't think you can go wrong. Just a thought if you get one of the full bumpers you could take the stock bumper, complete, off and sell it. The Covert bumper you really couldn't do that but I would get the one that you like the best.

 

Either of the Relentless bumpers get my vote. I am slightly more partial to the Summit as it would help keep your truck safer with people who park by braille. It offers a little surprise for the careless.

 

I agree too unless you’re doing really really hard off-roading then the bottom one with the front hoops may save you in a few very very rare circumstances. Even hard off roaders probably don’t ever use them

 

I had the SSO slimline and switched to a relentless. They both had features I liked but needed more protection so hence the switch. I would have saved myself some $ if I’d just went with the HC one to start with, so I voted the relentless. The peace of mind with the full bumper is nice too.

ETA: I am also now in the same situation with the rear. Thinking of switching to the relentless HC. I never thought I would need that much protection until a wrong turn on a trail made it abundantly clear that it was better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I have bumpers for sale now,