Westin Sportsman: I don't like it

[bryan240sx]

I bought one of the $500 Westin Sportsman grille guards for my B4000 right after I got it. The guard looked well enough when I got it, but after less than 6 months on the front of my car, the paint started to flake off and it began to rust. I've never impacted a thing, had nothing mounted to the guard and have done nothing but drive on sand.

I won't debate Westin's warranty here, but it's my opinion that it's worthless.

The main issue I have is the quality of the product. It just plain sucks. The welds are shoddy, the black coating is thin, wholly inadequate and begins to fall off after just a few months of use with no impacts, scratches, etc. The environment alone takes the paint off. As someone who knows a thing or two about surface preparation and coatings, it's clear to me that they need to revisit their manufacturing processes and increase oversight over their Chinese contract manufacturers that produce this garbage.

I had mine sprayed with bedliner when Westin refused to honor the warranty. I wasn't pleased with the results. It's very hard to get bedliner to coat properly on tubular surfaces and no matter how hard we tried, we could not get it to look satisfactory (and I had a great dealer). It also added a lot of weight to the already overweight grille guard. It also made the spacing in the grilles over the headlights narrower and it honestly made it noticeably harder to see at night.

I'm removing the guard this evening and I'm going to sell it or throw it away. I cannot express how dissatisfied I am with this product and wanted to vent. I welcome your comments on the matter. If anyone knows of a non-Westin grille guard that will fit a 2008 Mazda B4000, please let me know.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I was less than impressed with the black powder coating on my Westin Sportsman for my F-150. I got it used for $60 from a guy that traded in his '99 so I wasn't expecting it to be perfect anyway.

Where the hood guard bar is welded onto the main crossbar was rusted when I got it so I brushed it up and threw some spray paint on it quick last year to get it on before the deer started getting frisky. About Januaryish I noticed it was rusting again so I pulled it off in May and proceeded to fully strip it down and repaint it. I was surprised to find the grayish areas that I thought were oxidation of powdercoating or something really had rust under it. This was especially a problem on the pipes that wrap around the headlights and the bottom side of the channel that the lights mount to. I think the thing must have been rusting before it was coated, otherwise I don't see how else it could be started without being scratched... and I don't think the inside of the channel iron should be getting chipped before the leading edge. I wire wheeled (with paint remover) everything to a fine sheen and primed and painted it with "rust preventing" Rustoleom primer and paint.

So far it has been back on the truck for about a week and it still looks great.

This is how it looked last January, you can see the red tinges on the ends of the very top bar. It got worse as the winter wore on, but I didn't get a picture of it before I redid it.

 

[edgeaholic (tm)]

my westin sportsman still looks brand new.. and it's over 5 years old.. they must've went to a cheaper material.

 

[Ozwynn]

I don't like brush guards anyways. they offer no protection and can actually cause damage.

 

[rangerbum]

The guy that T-Boned me had a Westin Brush Gaurd on His Dodge Ram. I thought it did a great job of protecting his bumper and grille. But His insurance agency mentioned that his frame is bent because of the way it dispersed the impact to one side.

 

[Ozwynn]

when you hit it in the corner it damages the fender, don't make me go get the pic of the damaged Lexus LX 450, it would make you cry once you know what it cost to fix.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

when you hit it in the corner it damages the fender, don't make me go get the pic of the damaged Lexus LX 450, it would make you cry once you know what it cost to fix.

If you hit something hard enough to push it into whatever is behind it, chances are whatever the guard got pushed into would have been hurt anyway.

I like mine for radiator protection when I meet bambi in the dark of the night, or even a turkey in the daytime. I bet you would cry too if you saw what a 15+lb airborne butterball can do to a plastic grille and the radiator behind it.