F4x4 Bullbar Legality

that's the problem with yout00b is it not? :) those G&B guys have lots of info, but it's all in vids which takes for ever to watch (all of them anyway) and looking something up is almost impossible since it is not indexed anywhere. I can't recall they had a GVM upgrade anyway since this is a bit of an exception within europe to get done, not many countries allow this. From the top of my head the UK (which is no longer EU) and germany are the only ones who actually have the option to do it and their vehicle was bought (and registered) in france iirc.

Regarding the air suspension, that's a funny thing: I have a P38 with air suspension and many people have commented that air suspension is bad for overland travel and here we are, two popular youtubers have switched to air suspension :)

Jorn, as far as lights go, the consensus seems to be that avoid driving at night and you don't need lights. I am also still on the fence on that one. I really like the fyrlit units but they are huge and I do not want to put anything in front of my radiator grill to avoid blocking the air flow. A laser bar is also a great product but that is mostly distance and not much flood and adding more lights for flood... well it keeps ticking up in terms of money!

The Tyres, we have discussed that in private already, I think 255/85R16 is a "perfect" size but I do believe they are not readily available everywhere so that might be a thing? By the looks of it you currently have goodyear wranglers in I guess the standard size 235/85R16 and unless you have a really good reason to replace those, I would keep them on, they are a good tyre in my experience. Also, you can get the MT/R with kevlar in oz and I like those even more but no longer available over here.

Finally, nice setup :) I would be careful placing heavy spare wheels on top of a plastic fuel tank since rubbing and bouncing might cause trouble. Are you planning on having a frame to support things?

Cheers,
-P

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Originally Posted by prelude

that's the problem with yout00b is it not? :) those G&B guys have lots of info, but it's all in vids which takes for ever to watch (all of them anyway) and looking something up is almost impossible since it is not indexed anywhere. I can't recall they had a GVM upgrade anyway since this is a bit of an exception within europe to get done, not many countries allow this. From the top of my head the UK (which is no longer EU) and germany are the only ones who actually have the option to do it and their vehicle was bought (and registered) in france iirc.

Regarding the air suspension, that's a funny thing: I have a P38 with air suspension and many people have commented that air suspension is bad for overland travel and here we are, two popular youtubers have switched to air suspension :)

Jorn, as far as lights go, the consensus seems to be that avoid driving at night and you don't need lights. I am also still on the fence on that one. I really like the fyrlit units but they are huge and I do not want to put anything in front of my radiator grill to avoid blocking the air flow. A laser bar is also a great product but that is mostly distance and not much flood and adding more lights for flood... well it keeps ticking up in terms of money!

The Tyres, we have discussed that in private already, I think 255/85R16 is a "perfect" size but I do believe they are not readily available everywhere so that might be a thing? By the looks of it you currently have goodyear wranglers in I guess the standard size 235/85R16 and unless you have a really good reason to replace those, I would keep them on, they are a good tyre in my experience. Also, you can get the MT/R with kevlar in oz and I like those even more but no longer available over here.

Finally, nice setup :) I would be careful placing heavy spare wheels on top of a plastic fuel tank since rubbing and bouncing might cause trouble. Are you planning on having a frame to support things?

Cheers,
-P

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I will be placing them on a welded steel frame! The plastic tank will 100% not survive two full sized spares bouncing on top of them.
I indeed have some 235/85 wranglers on them now, they are nice tires, but they don't give the diff clearance, and cannot be lowered as much as the bigger tyres.
Will need to get 2 new tyres for the spare wheels anyways, so I might as well go the full mile.

European laws are a bit odd sometimes. I believe GVM is mostly calculated by breaking performance here. I also suspect that most vehicles will have the same legal weight in most of the EU, but I cannot confirm that. The reason people might think they have an 'upgraded' GVM is because they did upgrade their shock mounts, and mounted dual shocks in the rear.

Whether air suspension is the right choice or not I do not know. I believe the airbag man setups that replace the standard defender setup is much less sensitive when compared to 'stock' air suspension vehicles.

As far as lights, I'll be looking at the bahadesigns spots. You can swap the lenses for relatively cheap if you don't like the lens setup, and they are small. Also relatively affordable.
It is not my goal to drive at night, but I won't be actively avoiding it.

Kind regards

You could just upgrade the bulbs in the standard lights to be 50%+ or even higher, as a cheap alternative to fitting whole new lights.
It's unwise to drive at dawn or dusk or at night in some areas due to wildlife, particularly if the road is unfenced.