defender wing bars

[jericho]

I am thinking of buying a set of defender wing bars - not the 'extreme' type,just the normal ones.They are expensive,but I have so little time that I may have to spend the money.

The North Offroad and Performance & Protection ones are pretty similar,but slightly different -

Has anyone else pondered the question of which to choose?

Are they both made of the same material,same size tube ?

[bishbosh]

Take a stroll into the defender forum (or was it tools and fab or comps...? - this has been discussed at length.....

A little search will go a long way...

[Dave W]

I have the same dilemna myself although I've pretty much decided on P&P simply because they're closer to me and they've always been really helpful in supplying the odd bit of tubing when I've needed it.

I've yet to see anyone build a wing up in the way I want to do it so I need to go and have a look at one before I buy and see if I can fit them without it being obvious they're fitted - I want them to protect the motor from damage, not look like something off Mad Max.

[jericho]

Take a stroll into the defender forum (or was it tools and fab or comps...? - this has been discussed at length.....

A little search will go a long way...

Thankyou for your helpful advice,but I wrote the post after searching the topic.

I found Niges write-up of fitting NOR wings,and home made wing bars,but not a direct comparison of two items.

[sean f]

I fitted the North Off Road ones and found them a good fit with only minor fettling required, probable due to Land Rover tolerances.

The North Off Road ones also came complete made up and with front panels and wing skins.

The P&P ones I have seen are kit form and need to be notched and cut to lenght, Shrek (Milemarker Type S) has just fitted some and it needed a lot of work to get it all right.

For simple fit the North Off Road ones, if you are after a specific fit for some reason then the kit form from P&P would allow more flexability and tailoring to your specific requirements.

I suspect if you ask you will be able to get the North Off Road wings in kit form or the P&P ones pre made up but thats not the versions I have seen. As far as the quality of the parts / tubing I very much doubt you would get any problem from either company. If one is close enough for you to personally visit then thats probable the thing to do then take it from there.

[Milemarker Type S]

As Sean F says I have just fitted (along with help from an adult at OEC ) a set of P&P extreme wings that came flat packed- in all it was a lot of work. To be fair had I not reused the old wing tops, wing inners, outers, front panels, bonnet catch and the panels either side of the radiator (etc etc) it would have been far quicker... although the final result was worth it as far as I am concerned.

I had a couple of minor issue with the P&P ones- firstly that no instructions or even a diagram of any sort is supplied and the only images available on the net are of poor quality with no detail... making up the mountings and notching the tubes without a tube notcher etc would have been a nightmare.

I have not seen the P&P ones as supplied 'built up' or North ones 'flat packed' as cannot say for certain but my feeling is that for a quick fit and forget with limited time and resources then North would be the way to go.

[Dave W]

As Sean F says I have just fitted (along with help from an adult at OEC ) a set of P&P extreme wings that came flat packed- in all it was a lot of work. To be fair had I not reused the old wing tops, wing inners, outers, front panels, bonnet catch and the panels either side of the radiator (etc etc) it would have been far quicker... although the final result was worth it as far as I am concerned.

I had a couple of minor issue with the P&P ones- firstly that no instructions or even a diagram of any sort is supplied and the only images available on the net are of poor quality with no detail... making up the mountings and notching the tubes without a tube notcher etc would have been a nightmare.

I have not seen the P&P ones as supplied 'built up' or North ones 'flat packed' as cannot say for certain but my feeling is that for a quick fit and forget with limited time and resources then North would be the way to go.

Any pics of the result available ? It's difficult to visualise what they'd look like with the original panels fitted around/to them.

For those without a tube notcher (like me) I've done a fair amount of work making up custom bits with nasty multi angled notches, what I do is roll a piece of thin card around some pipe and tape it up to make a tube, you can then slide the cardboard tube over the end of the pipe and mark/cut it in situ. until it fits the joint. Once you have the template sorted you can pull it back over the tube and mark the area to be cut away with a saw/grinder/hole cutter. It makes the whole process much quicker and more accurate.

If you're doing several joints the same then you can reuse the card template each time.

[landroversforever]

I have the same dilemna myself although I've pretty much decided on P&P simply because they're closer to me and they've always been really helpful in supplying the odd bit of tubing when I've needed it.

I've yet to see anyone build a wing up in the way I want to do it so I need to go and have a look at one before I buy and see if I can fit them without it being obvious they're fitted - I want them to protect the motor from damage, not look like something off Mad Max.

[Future hat on]

I want any wings in the future to look not far from stock, the bars the same colour as the wings and as subtle as possible. the Devon ones seem to the bill as they don't seem as obtrusive as the others can be.

[/Future hat off]

[will_warne]

[Future hat on]

I want any wings in the future to look not far from stock, the bars the same colour as the wings and as subtle as possible. the Devon ones seem to the bill as they don't seem as obtrusive as the others can be.

[/Future hat off]

Lets take a trip back to the future: Jim Marsden's old green 90 was exactly like that.

[ciderman]

I am over the moon with my P&P Bars , perfect bends and all matched to fit perfick .

I did all the notching with a 4.5" flap wheel

[Milemarker Type S]

Any pics of the result available ? It's difficult to visualise what they'd look like with the original panels fitted around/to them.

PM me your email and I will send some pictures across.

[treebloke]

Wet Mids 4x4 also do them.

http://www.westmids4x4.com/wingbarkits.html

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

I have some experience now of the NOR wings, and they are IMHO very good because

• The bars are mandrel bent - (Qulaity bends and accuracy )
  
• The tube is CDS Clubmans spec - Ferkin strong and light )
  
• NOR service is superb
  
• Well thought out design(s) and fitting
  
• Easy to fit, for anyone who wants to keep welding / fab work minimal / so as std easy to fit
  
• The way the skins fit etc is neat
  
• If you go for the Std over the extrme kit more std looking
  
• Oh did I mention ferkin strong
  
• Price - frankly buying the tube and p****g about won't save you much
  

Looking at Jase / Cidermans most of the above is true, possible changes are

• You maybe need to do more fab work to fit
  
• The tubes in the tops and back of the wings even more HD than NOR which uses plate
  

But

unsure what the prices are compared to each other

hopefully Ciderman will keep a postin' with his progress so we have thread that compares the

2 types even better so others in the future can choose

Whichever you go for both are superb, I would suggest you check if any others on the

market are CNC Mandrel bent and Jig welded up, otherwise you'll possibly find that the LHS / RHS

are not the same and it may do your head in

HTH in some way

Nige

[j90 mud]

i cant comment on the fitting as my driver did that last year but i believe it was fine.we have fitted 2 of seans (north off road) roll cages now and they were supplied in kit form and fitted a treat.

what i will say is that we have not managed to bend the wing bars yet and that's after 18 months of competitions.the cage is fine despite gordon hitting trees all day long with it.