Hey guys,

I have been having words with family, and they think that the Reo bar on the bumper has to be used. I beg to differ.

Just want some more ideas and input on this subject. I will be putting it back in for want of reusing all parts.

Cheers guys.

I have bolted the bumper on without a reo bar and it doesnt seem to effect how the bumper sits, or how it looks btw.

Which car you on about? On my third gen TJ the bar holds the bumper together. A big floppy piece of plastic without that bar. Gonna fall off, right in front of a police car, and get you defected. lol

Yes, it has to be used. It's part of the rear crumple zone. The rear end is kinda soft and will squish right up to the rear screen in a decent rear ender. Will you die without it? Depends on what accident you are planning to have! lol

http://www.car-accidents.com/2006-Auto-pics/11-9-06_rear_smash.jpg

:yeahthat:

I'd probably put it on there for the safety of your rear passengers. You might not die but someone else might due to you not having the reo bar - far worse imo.

The reo bar is purely for keeping the shape of the bar its not going to help protect anyone in an accident.

The reo bar is purely for keeping the shape of the bar its not going to help protect anyone in an accident.

You are kidding, right?

Keep it in there!

It's quite possible depending on the assessor you get that your insurance claim may be declined.

SuFz

It is made of metal tissue paper.
You need it to keep the bumper to shape.
It will do almost stuff all in a rear ender.
If you want a little bit f protection then change to a Verada bar and reo.
Gerry

Whether it does anything or not, a reo bar is there for crash protection. Removal of it will land you in shit if you crash and cause serious injury to someone. Spend the rest of your life paying someones medical bills

Clearly it needs to be on the car and I would not advise anyone to take it off but in a serious accident it will do SFA to stop anyone being injured.

it actually would help spread the energy across the car and let the crumple zone dissapate the energy in the event of an accident

after reading the comments of some people here i've officially lost faith in humanity...
Oh well we had a good run.

A reo bar is a vital piece of safety equipment and tampering with it or removing it entirely if discovered is a defect that will have the car undrivable until fixed.
leave it there whether the brilliant car designers on this forum beleive it or not it's there for a reason.

We often take them out in rally cars but we compensate by having 8 point roll cage and stitch welded body shell. In a road car best keep it in.

Okay. Good to hear some differing ideas on this.

Personally, I don't see how it would really help in anything more than a minor (I.E under 15Kmh) nudge. I don't know if any of you guys have accentually seen the reo bar on a 3rd gen, but it seems to be a pretty piss weak structure.

Okay. Good to hear some differing ideas on this.

Personally, I don't see how it would really help in anything more than a minor (I.E under 15Kmh) nudge. I don't know if any of you guys have accentually seen the reo bar on a 3rd gen, but it seems to be a pretty piss weak structure.

Spot on. It's there to provide low impact resistance to damage. You would be annoyed if a minor bump into a post while reversing caused $3,000 worth of panel damage. There are ADR rules to limit the low impact damage allowed. Ever wondered why the bars on a second gen verada are wider? USA design rules to minimise low speed impact repair costs.
Now on the other hand, if it was such a solid bar attached to a really solid chassis, all of the impact shock would be transferred to the occupants of the car, causing G forces to peak, scrambling brains and breaking bones. The car would be all right though. Get the idea? The car crumples up in an impact to minimise the G loadings on the people, car dies but the people are ok. If you don't understand that, look at the picture of the Accord I posted earlier.

I'm disappointed I need to explain the basics of car design safety, if you don't understand it leave things as they were designed. Smarter people than you spend their lives designing this stuff.

*deleted* planking was a good idea too

Why would you want to get rid of it? Weight saving? 120 dollars? Well you'll have to put it back in anyway in case of a roadworthy test. Also a policeman that knows his stuff can check and will clap a canary on. Car off the road.

There is an old proverb: Greedy pays twice. Do it right the first time. You might get away for a while but getting a claim denied will cost you far more then the installation of a reo.

Madmax, I do understand the basics of car design safety. You are right about the 3000 dollars worth of panel damage example.

I must clarify. I test fitted the bumper without a reo bar, I didn't leave it out.

on my jdm diamante it is a piece of box section alloy, clearly designed to spread the impact force across both chassis rails and crumple to absorb a significant amount of energy from the impact. Its strenth is in its box section design.