JKJeremy

hmmm.....sorry to hear about your experience with this setup....i actually really like the looks of it on the jeep and for the price you can't beat it....that being said i'll keep an eye on things....the bar itself is completely coated so i'm not sure what there is to rust on that and the bolts that came with mine appear to be the same type of material as the black bolts everywhere else on the jeep which are not rusting....the bolts on the lights themselves appear to be cheap and i planned on hitting them with some black paint to coat them anyway to prevent rusting....i suppose it might be a good idea to put a thin bead of clear silicone sealant or maybe black around the perimeter of the bracket that actually touches the hood hinge to prevent water from getting under it, although that again is paint on paint so not sure what's to rust.....anyone else out there have any thoughts or issues with this.....how is this really any different than any other light bar or mounting bracket out there?

JKJeremy

yeah i did a little research on it last night, but the laws are so confusing....i actually wasn't sure whether these were considered offroad lights or driving lights (the purchase order and box actually calls them driving lights)....my understanding is that off-road lights aren't legal for use on the road anywhere (needing to be covered varies by state), but driving lights can be used only when your high beams are in use which makes sense to me since if those are on then presumably no one is around you....perhaps it's a matter of placement since these are mounted above the headlamps that classifies them as offroad lights i did see where it seemed to suggest that if they are covered then they are not subject to inspection but nothing that specifically requires it one way or the other....

Grimscale

Glad the wife doesn't read this forum. She wants me to get one of the hood bars, and I don't mind. I would have taken it and cleaned it up and bedlined it.
Unless it was so far gone as to be unusable.

JKJeremy

BTW this bar comes with a 23 year warranty according to quadratec's website, which is where i purchased mine, so if it was rusting, i'd send it back....

jhagerman

It's likely the same reason that a bumper can rust after a bit. The bolts on the 26's went first, then the new bolts on the bar went. Maybe I just got crappy powder coating.

As far as warranty, well Quad informed me that I'd have to pay the shipping to send it back. The shipping would have been close to the cost of the bar, so it made as much sense to dump it as it did to ship it back.

My theory with the RTV is similar to why you RTV the rest of the things that are added on. If you have metal on metal, or paint on paint, dust and moisture will get in there and mess things up.

JKJeremy

yeah, after looking closer at it last night i think i'm gonna put a thin bead of sealant around the bracket base just to close that up and then i'm gonna use that plasti-dip stuff in black that you use to coat old rusted tool handles and stuff to dip the ends and heads of all the bolts so it looks nice and clean and doesn't rust....the nice part about that stuff is that it peels off easily if i ever need to take anything off....

on another note everything is installed and working i'll post up finished pictures in a day or so hopefully.....sorry no install pics as i was racing daylight and rain to finish it up apparently i should sell the jeep and buy an ark....

RextheJeep

I used a old bike tire tube and cut out a piece to match the bottom on the bar ends and placed it between the hood and the bar. That should eliminate the paint in paint problem and provide a seal to keep moisture out
I will do the same when the windshield brackets arrive this week!

ConroeJK

thats what I did for my windshield mounts