Wife wife wants your advice on F/G v. OEM bumpers.

pbs911 · pbs911's Garage

I want to change the OEM bumpers to an IROC style front and the RUF Yellow Bird on the rear. My wife is concened with the safety of these bumpers. She thinks I'll get killed if I get in an accident. I have told her that members here have commented on it before. I have also told her about the nerf bar supports. Nonetheless, she wants to hear it from members of this board.

She will be looking at this thread this weekend, so how about some opinions. Obviously, F/G and OEM do not provide identical protection, but is an SC with F/G bumbers w/nerf bars for support making the car into a death trap?

Jim T · 07-11-2002, 04:45 PM

The car will actually be safer with the modern, impact absorbing fiberglass bumpers than it was with the old, outdated bumper technology that was on the car.

CEO · 07-11-2002, 04:48 PM

In my opinion the stock bumpers are only really going to protect you from the low speed impacts. I would not have put the f/g on my car had I thought I would die from an accident. I have the steel reinforcement bar in the back and they look pretty sturdy. But if someone hit you hard enough either with the standard or f/g bumpers you are screwed. I mean look at your cars 2500+ lbs and a SUV's 5000+ lbs. Plus I think that the SUV would bypass any bumper safety issue on a porsche anyway because of the ride hight difference and crush the fenders and decklid. If you really want to be safe tell her that you want a rollcage too!

Rot 911 · 07-11-2002, 06:55 PM

The study done by Ferdinand Piech for Porsche in 1996 entitled "The Superiority of Fiberglass Bumpers in Car Crashes" conclusively proved that fiberglass is superior in the absorbtion of impacts over standard bumpers. However the study went on to explain that the majority of potential Porsche purchasers belived fiberglass to be a cheaper product and not worthy of a Porsche due to the prevalance of the Corvette and its associated owners.

don911 · don911's Garage

I agree with everyone else. I think the OEMs were 5 mph bumpers...at least that's what I call them. That's about what they're good for.
In a high impact accident, bumpers will not help you.

emcon5 · emcon5's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by pbs911
My wife is concened with the safety of these bumpers. She thinks I'll get killed if I get in an accident.

Sounds like time for the weld-in cage.

Tom

rstoll · 07-11-2002, 07:05 PM

Gee, I guess my wife doesn't love me anymore. She has no concerns whatsoever about my bumpers.

pbs911 · pbs911's Garage

Anyone else?

Thanks.

dtw · 07-12-2002, 08:46 AM

Agreed- refer her to my page to show her what's really going to save your arse in an accident- the longitudinal structure, bulkheads, pillars, etc. Lotsa photos of my 911 torn apart showing exposed safety structures in the unibody. The bumpers are just to try to absorb the force of smaller impacts to prevent damage occurring to the more expensive/harder to fix unibody.

What are your uses for the car? If this is just a street car, then you're set. If it's a track car, then of course there's that can of worms...cage, harnesses, seats, fire control, fuel bladder, etc...