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GM Brush Guard Or Smaller After Market?

B

BlackJack

GUEST
Thinking of getting a front brush guard (for looks only as I don't go off-road ;) )

I'm worried that the gm factory brush guard will cover that sexy billet grille. I have seen the smaller chrome bars that cover the lower end of the truck, basically the front bumper.

Q1: What do you guys recommend? what looks best? ???

Q2: I need help to identify the manufacturer, part number and retailer of these smaller after-market guards. ???

Thanx guys!

Richard
Love this Truck :love: :B:

 
I like the GM brush guard. I'm going to be ordering mine in the next couple of weeks. However, I do understand your concern about NOT covering up your billet grille. I was either going to buy the brush guard or the billet grille. The reason why is because I didn't what to have too many mods up front. (i.e. brush guard, billet grille, bug shield, billet bowtie, etc.) Just my opinion, I hope it helps.
 
I have the WAAG 1-piece guard. Here is a link to a couple of photos.

Link to pics

One reason I chose this guard was because the vertical pieces flared out around bumper height following the lines of the grill better than any other guard I've seen.

Check out gandolphxx's ride as well, he has their front runner product which is a bumper only guard. Very nice looking and protects your cladding from scrapes. They also have a rear matching guard.
 
Very nice looking grill guard. And nice color Av. I see we both have the same taste.

As for which one? That is your personal choice.
 
I have the factory brushguard and I have to say it really makes the truck stand out. The front cover is plastic so I don't know how practicle it is to actually run through brush, but you said you wouldn't be doing that.

I used to have a toyota with a metal brush guard and used it to tell when I was in the parking space in the concrete parking garages at the mall. I would hit the wall then back up a couple of inches. I don't recommend doing that with the GM brushguard.

The GM brushguard mounts in 4 places making it a very sturdy brushguard. You have to get a hole saw and cut a 2" hole in the front plastic covering the bumber so it gets a little scarry. I installed it myself and it was a two man job but very easy.

Hope this helps
 
Yo yo Blackjack take a good look at one of those safari bars those look hot, thats the small one that your talking about
 
Legend,

No cutting is required for the WAAG. You need to remove your tow hooks and insert 2 new bolts supplied and re-install your tow hooks. You also have to remove your grill (instructions provided are very good). There are 2 bolts on the main "power frame" (bumper mounts) that you remove and insert a provided bracket. The bracket raises a new mounting point that 2 pieces of steel mount to that stick out under the painted part of the grill and above your bumper. That is the pic with the 2 black strips, about 1.5" wide, comming out of the grill. The whole thing took me about 1.5 hours to do, including unpacking the grill and reading all instructions before starting.
 
Hey guys, I am also having a dilema with deciding on a brush guard. I really like both the WAAG and the GM brush gaurds, however to me the WAAG seems like it offers more protection.
What are your preferences? Which one is the better buy, in terms of strength and reliability?

Thanks. :cool:
 
James - as for strength and protection the WAAG and the GM bar are some of your better options - both attach at four points (rather than just attaching underneath at the tow hook point) and both are beefy - I have the GM bar and modded it a bit and I can tell you it is solid thick stuff. So I think it comes down to visual preference.

Personally, I wished at first that the GM bar didn't give me EVEN MORE cladding, but the more I go messing around off road and brush up against things, the more I appreciate the forgiving cladding.
 
I have the GM Brush Bar, dealer installed, and I really like it. Very distinctive, and the cladding will take a beating and stand up well. Also, the chrome cross-bar is high-quality, and shines up really well. The GM bar makes the truck look particually massive, which I like.

But then, there was the time that a friend of mine referred to it as a " cow-catcher..."


Steve in Maine
 
Thanx jackalanche and Maximum_t, I have seen your pics jackalanche and it looks really nice, however the one thing that moves me toward the WAAG is that it wraps around the whole front and the GM doesn't.
 
ok Maximum T now you've done it - showed me yet another way to part with my money >:D - I REALLY like the Waag rear bumper guard - I would need to either get the black one chromed, (to match my front guard) or go with grey to match the cladding (sort of).

Biggest question to all and any who might know - does the Waag rear guard decrease departure angle or otherise present an off-road clearence issue? Does it degredate ground clearence?
 
;D The WAAG rear bumper guard has been on my hit list for a while now ;D

Here's a better pic of the black rear guard on an AV

WAAG Guards

It does appear to come down quite a bit off the rear.


url shortened by admin
 
If anyone is interested in buying the WAAG products. I would recommend to them http://www.bestdarnparts.com This is where I bought mine.

1) Best price - I was going to order the 3 piece to save some money. They did not have it in stock but had the 1-piece, gave me $20 off the price which made it only $10 more than the 1-piece.

2) Free shipping - shipping a 1-piece guard from any manufacturer can run you up to $70

3) Great service - the AV was not listed on their site but I got the part number from WAAG and the guy called me back in 5 minutes after verifying the part number for me to take my order.

4) Fast turn around - 4 business days from order to product in hand.

Overall a great online experience.
 
yeah I just wrote to the source and got a full pic of the rear guard, I see it does protrude underneath the rear bumper an inch or two, looks like it would snag actually:

16744-Avalanche02.jpg
 

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Believe it or not i like the wagg front grill guard. I do have the Bull bar made by Westin, mainly due to the fact i had ordered it for my Yukon and it came in the same day i got my AV, Yeah a little complsive buying going on there. When i see something i like i get it and that is what happened with the AV.
So since i had the Bull bar on hand just decided to make it fit. In my opinion the Bull bar is 65% looks and only 35% for protection because that is about all it protects on the front end. Offers no head light protection at all.
zeeya

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zeeya2000,

That Bull bar looks pretty good especially with
that Avalanche logo on the front. (y)
 
I to did not want to cover the grill. so i went with the Westin Stainless Bull bar/ for a Sub/tahoe
Modified the bracket a little to get a tighter fit
matches the 3" stainless side bars/ manik
see red devil
photos/pg 12 #117
 
just how did u modify the bracket on the bull bar? scale of 1-10 how hard? just starting to mod my av and i don't want to try anything major in the beginning.. thanks!
 
zeeya2000 said:
Believe it or not i like the wagg front grill guard. I do have the Bull bar made by Westin, mainly due to the fact i had ordered it for my Yukon and it came in the same day i got my AV, Yeah a little complsive buying going on there. When i see something i like i get it and that is what happened with the AV.
So since i had the Bull bar on hand just decided to make it fit. In my opinion the Bull bar is 65% looks and only 35% for protection because that is about all it protects on the front end. Offers no head light protection at all.
zeeya
Click to expand...

zeeya,

Yours is almost exactly what I am looking to fit on the Av (should it ever happen), over here we would call your style of bar a "nudge bar". Was it hard to modify? The main reason for wanting one is to have somewhere to mount the spotties!
 
Bikerchic
on your scale, about a 6
did require some welding to bracket only
mounting position to frame did not change
bracket the came with bar was to low and set the bar at a backward angle
the bracket is on 3 planes
1/ top- which mounts to frame
2/ front- that mounts to bull bar
3/ inner side
I cut a vee on the side plane about 1.5" from top
bent it backward about 15 degrees
then re-welded it
I redrilled a hole about 2" higher for the bull bar mount
this gave me about 2" more ground clearance and let the bar be at a forward leaning angle
some room for improvement/but very unique
 

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Cape, I have been looking for a chrome bull grill. Where did you get yours and did it come with different options?

 
griggs/chic
I did not have the equipment to do the install on the bull bar like Cape did. He had welding machine and cutting torch at hand. Lucky
I had to rely on salesman that we deal with to get pieces done for me. Cape was able to mount his under the bumper in the normal location due to his being able to bend the bracket up and change the angle of the bar to lift it up. I tried my below the plastic valance, but hit a few curbs in the parking lots, so i took my tow hooks out and cut my brackets so that they would not hang down below valance. I then had the holes redrilled and used 1.5" spacer to get it out and away from the grill. If you have a friend with a torch to cut the bracket it is not a bad job. I would hate to have to try and cut that bracket with a hacksaw.........I have had mine on since Feb. and have had no problems. Chrome plated stainless steel so no worry about rust.
Had to go to Home depot and get longer bolts to work with it, about 2.50 for those. Just who you know on the welding shop side/body shop.
 

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