Bull bar (nudge bar)
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Introduction
Bull bar / nudge bar (terminology depends on a world region) is a metal or plastic bar grid, which is mounted on vehicle's front or rear end. This article will use the term "nudge bar".
There are various designs, and most are aftermarket products.
Front nudge bars (which mount in front of the front bumper) are much more common than rear nudge bars (which mount in front of the rear bumper).
Read more about nudge bars in this generic world Wikipedia article: "Bull bar".
The topic of fitting and using a front nudge bar is loosely associated with the topic of front bumper issues. That wiki article also contains explanations on various Jimny plastic OEM bumper types.
The term "bull bar" is sometimes also applied to aftermarket-made metal "off-roader" front bumpers which entirely replace vehicle's OEM plastic bumper. This article does not deal with such bumpers.
A nudge bar MUST NOT be used as an anchor when towing or recovering a stuck vehicle!! It will rip off very easily. Most nudge bars also can't handle the weight of an idiot jumping on them.
Uses and purposes
Nudge bars are a popular accessory on many 4WD vehicles, as they are closely associated with vehicle's perceived "ruggedness".
In some areas of the world (like Australia, Africa, Scandinavia etc.) nudge bars actually have utilitarian purpose of defending the vehicle in case of collision with wild animals, which commonly roam around. However, in most other cases they are just fashion accessories.
Most nudge bars can be used as mounts for additional driving lamps, and that is very useful for Jimnys, as Jimny's factory plastic bumpers are useless on their own as mounting points for additional lamps.
Contrary to popular belief or impression, nudge bars are actually undesirable for off road use (in general case). Primary reason is that most nudge bars mount onto the chassis below the bumper. That way, nudge bars actually decrease vehicle's approach/departure angle and ground clearance. This issue is especially prominent in Jimnys with 2nd gen. front bumper, because that bumper already hangs quite low. A typical nudge bar worsens this to the level of rendering the vehicle almost useless off road.
Having a nudge bar on a vehicle is currently illegal in certain countries. The main reason is that most nudge bars will adversely impact the fate of anything that collides with them.
Front nudge bars
OEM Suzuki front nudge bars
- Suzuki even used to make 1st gen. and 2nd gen. front bumpers in special editions with integrated plastic nudge bars.
- There have been no reported sightings of a 3rd gen. front bumper with an integrated plastic nudge bar.
- The primary purpose of those plastic integrated front nudge bars is fashion.
- They have hardly any practical function or use, except possibly as "bump stoppers" in very mild collisions.
- The availability of those front bumpers with OEM plastic nudge bars depended on a country.
- It isn't known if these OEM plastic nudge bars can be transplanted from one front bumper to another.
- Perhaps they are bolt on, or perhaps they are glued-on, or even die-cast as a single piece with the bumper?
- It appears that they are either bolt-on or glue-on on 1st gen. front bumper, while they appear to be die-cast as an inseparable part of a 2nd gen. front bumper.
- OEM 1st gen. front bumper with integrated plastic nudge bar - examples 1, 2 and 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bumper, 1st gen, with integrated OEM bull bar - A01.jpg
Example 1
- Suzuki Jimny front bumper, 1st gen, with integrated OEM bull bar - B01.jpg
Example 2
- Suzuki Jimny front bumper, 1st gen, with integrated OEM bull bar - D01.jpg
Example 3
- OEM 1st gen. front bumper with integrated plastic nudge bar - example 4
- Suzuki Jimny front bumper, 1st gen, with integrated OEM bull bar - C01.jpg
Example 4 - view 1 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bumper, 1st gen, with integrated OEM bull bar - C02.jpg
Example 4 - view 2 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bumper, 1st gen, with integrated OEM bull bar - C03.jpg
Example 4 - view 3 of 3
- OEM 2nd gen. front bumper with integrated plastic nudge bar - example 4
- Suzuki Jimny front bumper, 2nd gen, with integrated OEM bull bar - A01.jpg
Example 1 - view 1 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bumper, 2nd gen, with integrated OEM bull bar - A02.jpg
Example 1 - view 2 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bumper, 2nd gen, with integrated OEM bull bar - A03.jpg
Example 1 - view 3 of 3
Aftermarket-made front nudge bars
Introduction
There are various designs of aftermarket-made front nudge bars for Jimnys. Most are made of stainless steel, while some are made of ordinary painted steel.
It is assumed (but not tried) that a certain aftermarket-made nudge bar can only be used with a certain OEM plastic bumper generation. The assumption is based on the fact that the vertical length (depth) of 1st gen, 2nd gen and 3rd gen OEM plastic front bumpers differs significantly. So, an aftermarket-made front nudge bar for 1st gen. OEM front bumper would probably collide with the bottom of the 2nd gen. OEM front bumper, because that bumper reaches much lower towards the ground than the 1st gen. front bumper. In the opposite case, the nudge bar would probably fit, but its bottom would hang too low compared to the bumper.
- Here is an example of a demounted aftermarket-made front nudge bar for Jimny's 1st gen front bumper.
Examples with 1st gen front bumper
Aftermarket-made front nudge bars for 1st gen. front bumpers are the most common, as they are the oldest, before the laws and regulations regarding nudge bars were "tightened".
- Aftermarket-made front nudge bar in front of 1st gen. front bumper - examples 1, 2 and 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - A01.jpg
Example 1
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - B01.jpg
Example 2
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - C01.jpg
Example 3
- Aftermarket-made front nudge bar in front of 1st gen. front bumper - example 4
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - D01.jpg
Example 4 - view 1 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - D02.jpg
Example 4 - view 2 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - D03.jpg
Example 4 - view 3 of 3
- Aftermarket-made front nudge bar in front of 1st gen. front bumper - example 5
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - E01.jpg
Example 5 - view 1 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - E02.jpg
Example 5 - view 2 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - E03.jpg
Example 5 - view 3 of 3
- Aftermarket-made front nudge bar in front of 1st gen. front bumper - example 6
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - F01.jpg
Example 6 - view 1 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - F02.jpg
Example 6 - view 2 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - F03.jpg
Example 6 - view 3 of 3
- Aftermarket-made front nudge bar in front of 1st gen. front bumper - example 7
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - G01.jpg
Example 7 - view 1 of 2
- Suzuki Jimny front bull bar, over 1st gen front bumper - G02.jpg
Example 7 - view 2 of 2
Examples with 2nd gen front bumper
Aftermarket-made front nudge bars for 2nd gen. front bumpers are not so common, as the laws and regulations regarding nudge bars became "tighter" during this era.
- Aftermarket-made front nudge bar in front of 2nd gen. front bumper - examples 1, 2 and 3
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 2nd gen front bumper - A01.jpg
Example 1
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 2nd gen front bumper - B01.jpg
Example 2
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 2nd gen front bumper - C01.jpg
Example 3
- Aftermarket-made front nudge bar in front of 2nd gen. front bumper - example 4
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 2nd gen front bumper - D01.jpg
Example 4 - view 1 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 2nd gen front bumper - D02.jpg
Example 4 - view 2 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 2nd gen front bumper - D03.jpg
Example 4 - view 3 of 3
Examples with 3rd gen front bumper
Aftermarket-made nudge bars for 3rd gen. front bumper are quite rare (at least in Europe). The reason could be that probably the EU laws and regulations are got so strict by the time when 3rd gen front bumper was introduced in 2012, that nudge bars became (almost) entirely illegal as new installations.
There is currently one known aftermarket manufacturer of nudge bars for 3rd gen. Jimny front bumpers. Here is their commercial:
DIY-made front nudge bars
- This is a (not too pretty) DIY-made front nudge bar on a 1st gen. front bumper.
- DIY-made front nudge bar in front of 3rd gen. front bumper - example 1
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 3rd gen front bumper - A01.jpg
Picture 1 of 8
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 3rd gen front bumper - A02.jpg
Picture 2 of 8
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 3rd gen front bumper - A03.jpg
Picture 3 of 8
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 3rd gen front bumper - A04.jpg
Picture 4 of 8
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 3rd gen front bumper - A05.jpg
Picture 5 of 8
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 3rd gen front bumper - A06.jpg
Picture 6 of 8
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 3rd gen front bumper - A07.jpg
Picture 7 of 8
- Suzuki Jimny - front bull bar, over 3rd gen front bumper - A08.jpg
Picture 8 of 8
Rear nudge bars
Introduction
Since all Jimnys use the same rear bumper (exceptions are some Japanese domestic models and some Brazilian models), any rear nudge bar which was made for Jimnys should be compatible with any Jimny.
Note that most rear nudge bars collide with the tow bar (specifically, with the tow neck and/or the tow ball). Therefore, most rear nudge bars can not be used if the tow bar is already fitted, and vice versa. But there are always exceptions, like in one of the pictures below.
OEM Suzuki rear nudge bars
As far as it is known, Suzuki has not produced an edition of the rear plastic bumper with an integrated plastic nudge bar.
However, Suzuki did offer a rear nudge bar made of metal tubes, very similar to aftermarket-made models. It was probably one such model which was endorsed by Suzuki. The model offered by Suzuki had a disclaimer in Suzuki's accessories catalogues that it can't be fitted together with a tow bar.
Aftermarket-made rear nudge bars
- Aftermarket-made rear nudge bar in front of rear bumper - example 1
- Suzuki Jimny - rear bull bar - B01.jpg
Example 1 - view 1 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny - rear bull bar - B02.jpg
Example 1 - view 1 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny - rear bull bar - B03.jpg
Example 1 - view 1 of 3
- Aftermarket-made rear nudge bar in front of rear bumper - example 2
- Suzuki Jimny - rear bull bar - C01.jpg
Example 2 - view 1 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny - rear bull bar - C02.jpg
Example 2 - view 1 of 3
- Suzuki Jimny - rear bull bar - C03.jpg
Example 2 - view 1 of 3
- Here is an exception to the rule. Tow bar together with a rear nudge bar. It was probably a tight match.
DIY-made rear nudge bars
Add pictures of a DIY rear nudge bar here if you have them.
Page last edited on 21/02/2017 by user Bosanek
