Holden may have ceased production of its hard-charging Colorado, but its standing as a home-grown, rough-and-tumble 4WD is as strong as ever. Second generation, 2.8 L turbo-diesel Colorados are the natural on-, and off-road superstars of Holden’s ute lineup, and that means they’re also willing recipients for a full range of aftermarket off-road goodies.
From turbo intercoolers, to suspension lift kits, there’s no shortage of parts that are ready to take your Colorado safely through the bush, but there’s one special piece of equipment that you can’t afford to go without: a bull bar. Everything from unwary roos and wallabies, to free ranging boars and cassowaries can lead to a vehicle totalling accident on just about any regional or rural Australian road; that’s why you have to make bull bars an aftermarket priority.
Bull Bars Give Your Holden Colorado Full Frontal Protection
It’s a fact: as undesirable as they may be, wildlife strikes are a reality of regional driving. And with the National Roads and Motorists’ Association (NRMA) estimating no less than 10 million animal strikes occurring annually around Australia, investing in a premium set of heavy-duty Holden Colorado bull bars could be one of the smartest acquisitions you make for your ute.
Bull bars won’t reduce the risk of an animal strike, or totally eliminate the damage that could occur during one, but they do offer the tough frontal protection that makes a strike survivable. Australian Standards (AS) 4876.1 outlines the requirements for all types of frontal protection systems sold in the country, to include bull bar dimensions and tolerances, especially with regard to:
- Their compatibility with the precise vehicle that they’re fitted to;
- Their fit in accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements; and,
- The risk, if any, they can pose to pedestrians.
While the Colorado benefits heavily from the Isuzu I-Max’s rugged front end construction, it’s simply not built to withstand the kind of glancing, or full frontal impact that’s common with animal collisions; and an insufficiently reinforced or incorrectly installed bull bar can effectively cause more damage than the animal strike itself. Wrap around, form fitting bull bars are the only accessories designed to legally satisfy all the above requirements, and more importantly, they’re approved and certified to keep you safe.
Heavy-Duty Ocam Bars Make the Defensive Difference
It’s no secret that there’s no shortage of opinions that stem from the use of bull bars, especially when it comes to incidents involving pedestrians and motor vehicle collisions. However, if you and your Colorado spend anything more than occasional stretches of time on remote roads, you need the peace of mind that heavy-duty bull bars can provide.
Quality means everything when you’re shopping for proper protection from animal strikes; and at 79 kg, solidly built Holden Colorado bull bar for sale like the all-Aussie units manufactured by Ocam boast a range of optimised defensive features that include:
- Heavy-duty, fully welded steel construction;
- A patented energy absorber system, with polyurethane protection bumpers;
- 2 mm thick, 63 mm diameter top and bottom tubing;
- 2.5 mm reinforced plating and bracketing; and,
- Robust underbody skid and bash plate protection.
Ideally, not only is installing a bull bar on your Colorado the surest way to avoid costly front end damage to your ute, but also injury to yourself or your passengers. That means you want a bull bar that does more than just look imposing; and Ocam makes a solid Holden Colorado bull bar that’s Australian Design Rule (ADR) approved to keep you and your vehicle safe.
ADR Compliant Bars that Complement Standard Colorado Features
Make no mistake: there’s no shortage of published analytical, as well as medical data available outlining the dangers of animal-related collisions, especially roos. The injuries incurred can be the result of either striking the animal, or as a result of swerving to avoid it; that’s why ADR-compliant bull bars to suit Holden Colorado vehicles are the only bull bars you should consider.
ADR-compliant bull bars not only satisfy the AS-mandated requirements for side, full frontal, and underrun impact protection, they’re also engineered to verifiably complement the Colorado’s standard range of safety features, to include:
- Certification and calibration for airbag/SRS deployment;
- LED indicator, parking, and running light integration; and,
- 2x high lift jack points, and 2x recovery points, rated 1700 kg each.
With their superior safety and construction standards, ADR-compliant bull bars not only reduce the likelihood of personal injuries following an animal collision, they inherently mean that your Colorado’s grill and bonnet, and ultimately your headlamps and radiator stand a superb chance of being spared the kind of damage that could disable the vehicle. They even allow you to securely mount antennas, fog lights, and winches – all without damaging their corrosion-resistant finish.
Make Sure Your Bull Bars Look As Good As They Perform
No matter how you look at them, there’s no middle ground when it comes to how bull bars look. That invariably means you want a bull bar with a tough, scratch resistant finish that never needs more than a thorough wash down to retain its lustre.
Ocam’s Colorado bull bars feature a multi-staged treatment process that begins with a phosphatising pre-treatment that first removes any surface impurities from the raw steel, and then uses phosphoric acid to form a protective base layer for a trio of coatings that are tough enough for all forms of on- and off-road activity. In detail, there’s the:
- Cathodic epoxy coating. This is the benchmark adhesion process that applies corrosion and chemical resistant epoxy to the complete surface of the bull bar.
- Prime powder coating. This coating offers an added layer of corrosion and chemical resistance that also helps with removing surface imperfections.
- Top powder coating. The is the final, ultra-reinforcement layer that locks in the bull bar’s smooth surface layer.
These bull bars don’t just perform well, they’re genuine head turners. And with their high grade black top powder coat finish, they’ll have your Colorado looking just as rugged as it is.
The Final Word
At the end of the day, while bull bars may not be the perfect Colorado accessory for urban settings, they’re a necessity if you regularly travel on regional roads around dawn or dusk. What you don’t want, however, is a bull bar that has the potential to be more of a hazard than an animal strike itself – you want one that’s as safe as it is strong.
No matter if it’s on- or off-road, a premium set of heavy-duty Holden Colorado bars like the ones from Ocam has all the attributes you need to keep yourself and your ute safe. When the wildlife wakes up, they have the ADR-compliant reliability that you can trust.
