I am thinking about putting a Brush Grill Guard on my 08 XLT and I am wondering if they are really worth it or jsut a waste of money.
Do they really protect the front end?

Does anyone know if they make one that I can use with the factory tow hooks?

 

depends on what your planning on taking it through, if you stick to just "Brush" then ya they will do fine keep sticks and **** out of your grille. For the most part they are just for look though. As for the tow hooks i am not sure, i know of people that will just hook on to there brush guard. I know i have an Aries and they had to take my tow hooks off.

 

I put a brush guard on both my F150 and my wife's explorer. When my wife hit a deer head on at 55 mph the brush guard got bent up and had to be replaced but it prevented the front end of the explorer from going into the engine. The body shop said if it wasn't for the brush guard the explorer would have been totaled, they just had to replace some body parts and repaint. The radiator and on back wasn't hurt at all. So with the amount of deer we have here in PA I believe in a good brush guard and will always put one on (except for the vette).

 

Depending on what it's made of it could stop a deer or it could look pretty. Remember, you get what you pay for. I've got one I found on CL. It's for and Expedition but I modded the brackets so I could mount it and keep the tow hooks. I only put mine on in the winter.

 

I agree, you will get what you pay for. Some of the cheap ones won't do sh**, the more expensive ones would probably help... although if youre at interstate speeds when you slam into a 300lb animal, i'm not sure that a few stainless steel tubes is going to do a whole lot...

That said, the brush guards would keep the headlights fairly safe from birds and such. Headlight housings are about ~250 apiece IIRC. I know that many models of grill guards do allow you to keep the tow hooks.

"I am wondering if they are really worth it" - I have already hit a deer with my truck on the interstate (hit the brakes, still was @ 70). Clipped it in the head/neck with my headlight, dinged up the front fender a lil bit. Didnt do anything to the bumper/grill/hood/radiator/etc. Its body mustve swung around, bc there was a dent in my back wheel well too... Still drove the truck home (and another 2000 miles waiting for the shop to get parts in). A grill/brush guard would not have totally prevented the damage. Even if it had, I wouldnt expect it to be in perfect shape. Still, I didn't hit it head on, so I can't say what damage it could've done (radiator, grill, hood, etc).

I was seriously looking into grill guards too, but after hitting this deer, I'm not anymore. I know my truck is big enough to handle deer without a grill guard and still drive, at least until i can get it into the shop to get it fixed.

My plan now is instead of paying for a grill guard, just use that $$ to keep my deductible lower on my comprehensive insurance which will pay for all the repairs if i hit another one. Also looking into getting some 55W 6k HID's, so I can see 'em comin.

If you want more protection, you might consider a replacement custom bumper/grill guard. Those look waay tougher than any of the bolt-on grill guards I've seen.

http://www.f150online.com/forums/app...-bull-bar.html