WS4x4 Winch Bumpers - Any good?

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i had one of there bumpers on my disco and thought they were of decent quality. also sypher and myself have bought there classic winch bumper for our 90's and they are made of 6mm steel although they look to be sprayed rather than powder coated, i may be wrong but if it is powder coat then its crap but other than that they seem to be good bumpers. let me know if you require any pics of one fitted.
 
I replaced a tublar winch bumper for a 90 predator classic bumper from ws4x4 and I can say that there bumpers are superb quality. My boss also has the tubular winch bumper that they sell and it is very good also.
 
Thanks people. Short Round - if you have some pics of the classic winch bumper that would be great.
Basically, am I better off investing a bit more for a more well known make or will I be content with one of these?
Thinking £150 + £35 for the a bar I can't really go too wrong??
 
ok mate i'm away with work at the mo so when i get back on thursday i will post some piccys for ya and just to let you know the A bar fitted to mine i cut and welded to fit so will not be the one you recieve from them but it will give you an idea
 
they are very good bumpers, have got one on my 90 they are galvanised first then powder coated and made out of 6mm
 
I wouldn't recommend them, I've got one on my 90 and it looks fantastic from a distance but up close it's not so pretty. Where the steel has been folded to form the cradle it's split (on both sides) and the 2 pieces of tube that stick out from the cradle are different lengths and one is welded pointing back to the Landy, one is welded at 90 degrees.

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Customer services is **** poor aswell, I'm still waiting on the courier to come and collect it for repair, it's only been 6 months though so I'm sure he will be here in a bit!

I've shown the winch bumper to our company welder (he builds all our specialist winch and recovery equipment) and were both of the opinion it's probably best not to stick a winch in it....they are cheap for a reason!
 
I wouldn't recommend them, I've got one on my 90 and it looks fantastic from a distance but up close it's not so pretty. Where the steel has been folded to form the cradle it's split (on both sides) and the 2 pieces of tube that stick out from the cradle are different lengths and one is welded pointing back to the Landy, one is welded at 90 degrees.

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Customer services is **** poor aswell, I'm still waiting on the courier to come and collect it for repair, it's only been 6 months though so I'm sure he will be here in a bit!

I've shown the winch bumper to our company welder (he builds all our specialist winch and recovery equipment) and were both of the opinion it's probably best not to stick a winch in it....they are cheap for a reason!
Yep looks like proper junk
 
OK, so I went for it and purchased one.
IMO it's as good as the price! Not quite symmetrical and the A Bar I had added on by WS4x4 has dents from where it has been bent. Some of the paint around the welds is wearing thin or has gone already, however, it was really really cheap.
In hindsight I would've paid a bit more and got something with more quality but as it's there, and it looks pretty dam good, I'll keep it until I need to replace it.
 
OK, so I went for it and purchased one.
IMO it's as good as the price! Not quite symmetrical and the A Bar I had added on by WS4x4 has dents from where it has been bent. Some of the paint around the welds is wearing thin or has gone already, however, it was really really cheap.
In hindsight I would've paid a bit more and got something with more quality but as it's there, and it looks pretty dam good, I'll keep it until I need to replace it.

How much is "really really cheap"?

In my book it has to work properly, not "look pretty dam good" at a distance or close up, or not be symmetrical, or have dents ... I wouldn't want it to get pulled off when winching, or being winched, up a steep slope or put of deep mud.
 
That's why I haven't fitted a winch to mine in the 9 months I've had it and used the recovery eyes on the bash plate rather than the ones on the bumper... You pays your money, you take your chances!
 
Hi all. thankyou for the predominantly positive feedback. We take all comments on board and work hard to try and resolve them. We are only a small company and take things very personally. For those of you who have dealt with us you will know that and it has been said many times on different forums. It is true we have had a few problems in the past which we have tried to resolve especially with the gentleman on here that has decided rather than deal with the issue he would rather go from forum to forum and slate us. That is fine as it is a free world. In our defence we tried to resolve this issue as soon as it started but the gentleman didnt reply to our emails. We again tried to resolve it when he decided to post on another forum and again he decided not to reply. Please see the link below

W.s 4x4 winch bumpers

and this time he is being backed up by a guy who makes bumpers by the sounds of it. How easy would it be for us to jump on every bad comment about other company's winch bumpers and say "Yep looks like proper junk" and "id like to think mine are better quality, but similar money". We dont do this as we do not think its an ethical way of doing business. We do not go around slating other company's, We have sold 1000's of bumpers an this is the only really negative feedback we have. When we do get bad feedback and lets face it any company who says they never have issues is either lying or hasn't sold enough. Its part of business. Its not the fact you make mistakes, its what you do about them that counts. We do not go around asking for bad feedback and comments to be removed unless they are simply untrue. This again can be seen in the forum comments above.

What we do do, is produce winch bumpers that are accessible to the general man on the street for a sensible amount of money. The Winch craddle is made out of 6mm steel which is the same thickness if not thicker than most other companys. We have never had a bumper returned due to structural issues, lets face it most people should be more concerned about the rusty chassis that they are bolting these onto rather than the 6mm steel bumper. the chassis at most are made from 4mm steel and that was 10 to 20 years ago. Just because it was welded by Land rover doesn't mean it will last forever regardless of what we all hope. Granted the little tears in the metal shown in the pictures on this forum aren't very ascetically pleasing they are not structural. It took a 50 ton press break to do that whilst they were being folded. From now on We try our best to weld all of these up so that they look better. We do listen and act on feedback as much as possible. These bumpers are all hand made and at times may vary very slightly. Some of the best known brands we love i.e Land Rover were built in much the same way. We make good quality bumpers at sensible prices. They might not be quite up to the standard of some of the kit that is out there at 3 times the price but they are very, very close.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and we hope that it has balanced out the argument some what.
 
I m on no ones side and as you make them in england I genuinely wish you well.
That said the term hand made is no excuse for sending out items with parts welded on wonky ,being hand made it should be better!
I think your cutting process has caused part work hardening causing the splitting when folded
 
Hi all. thankyou for the predominantly positive feedback. We take all comments on board and work hard to try and resolve them. We are only a small company and take things very personally. For those of you who have dealt with us you will know that and it has been said many times on different forums. It is true we have had a few problems in the past which we have tried to resolve especially with the gentleman on here that has decided rather than deal with the issue he would rather go from forum to forum and slate us. That is fine as it is a free world. In our defence we tried to resolve this issue as soon as it started but the gentleman didnt reply to our emails. We again tried to resolve it when he decided to post on another forum and again he decided not to reply. Please see the link below

W.s 4x4 winch bumpers

and this time he is being backed up by a guy who makes bumpers by the sounds of it. How easy would it be for us to jump on every bad comment about other company's winch bumpers and say "Yep looks like proper junk" and "id like to think mine are better quality, but similar money". We dont do this as we do not think its an ethical way of doing business. We do not go around slating other company's, We have sold 1000's of bumpers an this is the only really negative feedback we have. When we do get bad feedback and lets face it any company who says they never have issues is either lying or hasn't sold enough. Its part of business. Its not the fact you make mistakes, its what you do about them that counts. We do not go around asking for bad feedback and comments to be removed unless they are simply untrue. This again can be seen in the forum comments above.

What we do do, is produce winch bumpers that are accessible to the general man on the street for a sensible amount of money. The Winch craddle is made out of 6mm steel which is the same thickness if not thicker than most other companys. We have never had a bumper returned due to structural issues, lets face it most people should be more concerned about the rusty chassis that they are bolting these onto rather than the 6mm steel bumper. the chassis at most are made from 4mm steel and that was 10 to 20 years ago. Just because it was welded by Land rover doesn't mean it will last forever regardless of what we all hope. Granted the little tears in the metal shown in the pictures on this forum aren't very ascetically pleasing they are not structural. It took a 50 ton press break to do that whilst they were being folded. From now on We try our best to weld all of these up so that they look better. We do listen and act on feedback as much as possible. These bumpers are all hand made and at times may vary very slightly. Some of the best known brands we love i.e Land Rover were built in much the same way. We make good quality bumpers at sensible prices. They might not be quite up to the standard of some of the kit that is out there at 3 times the price but they are very, very close.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and we hope that it has balanced out the argument some what.

I'll wade in here and say several things
1) if someone has a problem contact the company first
2) if it is a legitimate issue, the company have the right to offer repair, refund or replacement.
3) post the issues with pictures and see what situation is if you get no resolution with company
4) should the company not want to know then there is the crock of **** thread and Money Claim Online.
 
You tried to resolve it with me? I messaged you twice through eBay, you didn't respond. In my 3rd message I stated I was going to open a case with them against you and then you responded saying the bumper was fine, it's just cosmetic, my chassis will fail first. I then pointed out I work in the recovery industry and had taken it to our lead engineer (who at the time was modifying a John Deere centre steer to take twin roetzler winches, so he obviously knows a thing or two about winches, mounts and the associated stresses) he advised me to get it back to you. You then told me that you too had worked in the recovery industry and knew all about it but if I was really unhappy you'd send a courier to collect it. I then immediately rang you, spoke to yourself who told me you'd send a courier the following week, I pressed you for an exact day and you told me you'd book one and let me know....because I had a 6 day shift the following week I took the bumper off, wrapped it in its original packaging and left it for a courier...2 weeks later I rang 3 times and got fobbed off by your company. I was told you were busy, the person on the phone knew nothing about it and that she would get you to ring me back and the 3rd time I got someone who sounded suspiciously like yourself saying "I'm just a fabricator, I happened to be passing the office when the phone rang, can I take a message?"

I gave up after that. Why would I allow the bumper I've paid my hardened for to go back into your unreliable and untrustworthy hands? I'm betting I wouldn't have see It again for months. After all, it was my second dealing with you and your company. The first time i had to wait 3 weeks (despite being told the bumper would be with me in less than 2) for you to come up with some cock and bull story about how the bumper had just that morning turned up from being coated and you wasn't happy with the finish so I'd have to wait another week. I asked for my money back, you got shirty, passed me to a woman who dragged her heals and eventually 6 hours later the money was transferred back. That's why I only bought one from you through eBay, as I hoped I'd have some for of buyers protection.

You wonder why I've gone on forums and every time someone has asked about you I've offered my opinion? I've never started a thread about how **** poor you, your service and your company are, just offered my experience.
 
Firstly im not going to get in a back and forth about this over a web forum that is not how we operate. I will try an address your points in order:

You may have taken it to your lead engineer and he may have told you what he did but that surely is no different from me telling you that there is no issue with it and that it is far stronger than your chassis. You are correct my background is in the recovery business and that also included building heavy recovery trucks so I would also claim that i know a bit about stresses and strains. As we have already said from now on we will weld that half inch section up so that it is not visible anymore. but again i would state that they are still much stronger than your chassis.

We did try and resolve things at the time with you and as you can see we replied back to your last forum post and we never heard anything back. As you have said you do not wish to send the bumper back to us, so what more can we do?

As for claiming that you have spoken to several people then i think that your memory fails you as a) we never have had any females that work for me and all past customers can vouch that they have never spoke to a women on the phone when they have rang us, and b) the only person that would answer the phone is me as it is with me all the time.

like I have said im not going to tit for tat over a forum. You and I are the only ones that truly know what has been said. You are more than entitled to think what you like. These forums are often used to only point out the negatives in companys and not the positives. Many customers here have stated that they have had a more than acceptable service from us on both of these threads. I have put my side forward so that people can get both sides of this, not so that we can go at each other over the internet.

Lastly PRESSBRAKE thank you for your comments they are much appreciated and have been taken on board. The steel is cut with a laser cutter by a company specilising in all forms of metal cutting. I will investigate with them.

Once again thank you to the people who have taken them time to read these comments and who have offered there opinions.
 
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