Hi all, 

 

I have just bought my Yeti 2014 2 litre diesel turbo Elegance and I absolutely love it. I was choosing between a few of these similar cars - the Jeep Renegade etc - and I feel blessed that I chose the Yeti. 

 

I want to add a couple of things to add to the "outdoor" character - bull bar, side steps, auxiliary fog lights -  and am surprised that they are not more common due to the looks of the yeti. When I had my old Suzuki Vitara, many moons go,  it was so common for these things to be added that you very rarely saw one without them. 

 

The driving lights I want to fit will be a pair mounted on the bull bar, powered by a relay off the switching circuit from the bi-xenons, via a switch mounted on one of the blanks below the heater controls.

 

Now I know that these things will not to be to everyone's taste and to be honest the bi-xenons are so good that the spotlights are pretty much redundant, but I do a lot of rural road/green lane driving so every extra helps. And, more importantly, I just like the look. 

 

Because there seems to be such a lack of these additions there is not a lot of information about the fitment. The only actually useful information I found on the WHOLE internet was on briskoda  - 

 

Any way if anyone has had experience of fitting the above, particularly the spot lights, and wants to give their advice i would be most grateful. And yes, Lanigraham, I know they might not be legal in the UK. 

 

Welcome.

The 'Bull Bars' simply are not common because the kind commonly sold were not Legal in the UK / EU, so the issue is with the Law & also your insurers, you need to declare the Non Factory Option parts & non Dealer Option fitted in the UK.

 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/419137-hella-led-light-bar-350-installed-behind-yeti-bumper

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bull-bars/bull-bars

https://www.roughtrax4x4.com/blog/why-is-it-illegal-to-sell-bull-bars

 

Edited 28 October, 20205 yr by e-Roottoot

Back in 87 I had a SWB Shogun which came with the obligatory bullbar, light guards & side steps fitted new by the supplying dealer, I bought it second hand and found that instead of using the brackets for the side steps they had cut them off and welded the tubes directly to the chassis rails

 

Someone reversed into me at a petrol station through their impatience and damaged the bullbar although not as much as their van, my insurers paid for a new one & claimed from the T.P. insurers so in those happy days fitting non legal non declared accessories was not a problem.

 

Might have been different if I had shunted him as he claimed though.

The Side Steps or the decorative side slider / nerf bars do not make sense for green laning or softroading as they just add weight and are something to catch, as are the type of Bull Bars that hang down and might well catch when reversing.

 

A robust sump guard / slider can be additional weight worth adding, but then that is function over just style / looks.

Hmm.... Probably wont go for the bull bars after all then. You can get EU approved ones as above, but (a) they are twice as much (b) I cannot see any difference to the "banned" ones, and (c) it's all probably going to change in 2021 (but lets not get into a political arguement on here, chaps). 

 

I wonder where I can mount my lights then? You can buy £12 number plate mounts from fleabay, which I had on a Jimny but they were a bit flimsy. 

 

Probably back in 87 you could fit an RSJ on the front of your car and legally you would be fine. My Old Ford Zephyr had so many things which would be illegal if manufactured today (no seatbelts, red/clear indiactors ..etc.. etc)

 

 

?

Would a LED Light Bar or 2 not do the job better of lighting the way in addition to the full beams being on, but maybe just not have the look?

 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/328857-auxillary-light-bracket

 

Having done more digging the EU approved bull bars seem to be bolted straight to the number plate area rather than bolted underneath and just sticking up infront of the car.

 

I quite like the look of a light bar.... maybe on one of those flimsy numberplate mounts....

 

 

@JoeSchmofo

I had a good 12" LED Light Bar on a not flimsy Front Number plate mount which was only £15 with free delivery from E-bay  on my last Jimny. (which had a Bull Bar Fitted.)

 

EDIT.

Sorry no pick with Light Bar.

Here just the Spots were on the Bar.

 

Edited 28 October, 20205 yr by e-Roottoot

I can think of a good reason for not fitting a bull bar especially one that picks up on the front bumper beam mounting points, and there is nothing else to fix to on the front of the car.

 

Any impact transferred directly to those chassis longeron mounting points, that is to say metal to metal without a plastic/rubber/foam cushioning structure will set off the dashboard airbags, the drivers knee and steering wheel airbags and the seatbelt pyrotechnics, this alone is enough to write off an almost new vehicle.

 

I know because that is exactly what had happened to mine, I dont know what it hit but the only visible damage was some cracked slats in the radiator grille and a couple of scratches and stress cracks in the paint of the bumper.

 

The impcat had been transferred by the bumper & the inner polystyrene filler to the inner metal bumper beam, this has 2 short longerons that form the primary sacrificial crumple zone, one side was deformed so I can understand the shock sensor deploying the airbags, the bumper and polystyrene infill were both reused without any repairs and you would never know, thats how effective they are.

 

With a bull bar the vehicle structure has none of that protection and more importantly neither does a pedestrian unfortunate enough to be hit by it.

Ok.... its going to cost twice what I expected, add weight, get hung up on green lanes, be dangerous, may not even be legal, may cause more damage to the car in a small prang,....

 

I think you guys have persuaded me against the bull bar.

 

The front of the Yeti is handsome enough as it is.

 

My views on them have changed completely with the passage of 34 years, they looked the part then when the vehicle underneath looked fit for its purpose, the bullbars & light guards gave it extra protection if used in extremis (& to hell with pedestrians AFAI was concerned then), the sill bars were cosmetic chocolate teapots that damaged the bodywork when one ripped off in an AWDC event on an obstacle that the vehicle without them would have cleared undamaged.

 

These days where 4x4's look like a Playmobil as we say in France a bullbar looks completely stupid which it probably did to the rest of the world when I thought it looked cool.

I've only driven one car that had side steps and that was a Landrover Freelander my Dad was test driving many years ago. It looked quite good but in reality it made the car very difficult to get in and out of easily, maybe that was because I'm fairly tall but no way would I have that on any car that I owned. I had a Yeti for two years and found it pretty easy to get in and out of it as it was.

"Style before practicality, always" has forever been my motto.