What Armor Should You Get for your Overland Vehicle?

Protection Mods You Need for Your Overland or Off-Road Vehicle - intro to your first armor mods

Pretty much all vehicles come with some sort of “armor” such as skid plates, however if you take your vehicle out on adventures a lot, you will realize that it’s just not as protective as you may need it to be. This is where aftermarket vehicle armor comes in to play. The main purpose of aftermarket armor is to add strength and durability to your vehicle and to protect it from large damages so that you can make it off the trails and home safely. Choosing which aftermarket armor to add to your vehicle can be daunting task as there is just a ton of different products out there and their importance varies on the type of overlanding you do.

What Armor Should You Buy First?

While it all kind of depends on your overlanding style and the trips you go on, the first steps you should take is protecting the underneath, body, and front of your vehicle. This is because it’s where most of the important things are such as your motor, intercooler, driveline, and frame, and protecting these will help make sure that you can make it home safely and aren’t stranded in the middle of nowhere with no access to parts or tools.

Skid plates

Skid plates play an extremely important role in protecting the undercarriage of your vehicle and most stock vehicles come with a skid plate to help protect them from everyday driving. when you step into the world of overlanding and off-road adventures, these stock skid plates won’t last very long or hold up to some of the abuse that aftermarket ones can.

Aftermarket skid plates are also typically larger and cover more of the underside of your vehicle in case you were to hit a large rock or other obstacle. They can usually be bought separately for individual component protection or as entire kits to fully cover the underside of your vehicle.

Front Bumpers

Another important piece of armor to consider is a front bumper. Having an aftermarket front bump will help protect things like your intercool, motor, and other important things that make your vehicle run smoothly. Not only do they help protect you from collisions, they can also offer more ground clearance if you opt for a high clearance bumper which helps make sure you can get over obstacle without accidentally taking off the factory plastic bumpers.

Alongside adding protection, they can also offer you some functionality through the ability to add things like light bars, a winch, and additional recovery points.

Rock Sliders

Rock sliders mount underneath the rocker panels on your vehicle and serve as body protection in case you hit something or, as the name suggest, slide over some rocks (or other obstacles).

While they aren’t necessarily the first piece of armor you should add to your vehicle, but if you tend to do more rock crawling style overlanding or are in areas where obstacles may end up hitting the side body panels I would definitely suggest purchasing a set.

Other and Vehicle Specific Armor

More Skid Plates

While most skid plate sets cover a majority of the underside of your vehicle, there are some very specific skid plates that are sold separately such as rear differential skids, lower shock mount skids, lower control arms skid, and so much more. Depending on where you go overlanding and how careful of a driver you are, these may be a bit overkill but are good to consider.

Rear Bumper

While front bumpers are there to protect the front of your vehicle and all of the important components, a rear bumper does the same but for the rear. The only difference is there isn’t much going on in the rear of your vehicle to protect (depending on what you drive). Rear bumpers can offer protection from drivers on the road, backing into obstacles, and even provide some much needed ground clearance if you choose to go with a high clearance rear bumper.

Choosing your Materials: Steel vs Aluminum

Now before you actually go out and purchase some of the armor mentioned above, there’s more to take into consideration. When shopping for armor you’ll see a wide variety of different styles, colors, brands, etc. You’ll also notice that some armor is made in steel and some is made with aluminum. While this may not seem like much of a difference, you’ll actually want to weigh the options before making the purchase.

Steel armor will of course be a lot stronger and durable than their aluminum counterparts. With this extra strength comes a lot more weight which can weigh down your vehicle and cause things like gas mileage decrease and more strain on your suspension and driveline components. If you see yourself rock crawling or doing more intense overlanding and drive short distances, steel would definitely be the way to go.

Aluminum on the other hand weighs a lot less but can’t withstand as harsh of hits. Choosing the right metal for your armor all depends on what type of overlanding you do. If you like to go on long trips without too many crazy obstacles, going with aluminum will help keep the weight down and still provide more protection than the stock armor. If you daily drive your overland vehicle like me, aluminum will also save you a lot of money in the future so you don’t have to fill up on gas as much.

The downsides of Aftermarket Armor

Weight

With the added protection that armor offers your vehicle, it does come with a cost; the weight of your vehicle. The added weight can cause things such as lower gas mileage, putting more strain on your vehicles components, and having to spend more time and money to upgrade more aspects of your vehicle to accommodate the added weight.

The most common things you will probably notice with the more armor you add is that you aren’t getting the gas mileage that you used to without all of the extra armor. This is because weight pretty much makes your vehicle have to work harder to do what it was made to do. This can be counteracted by opting for aluminum over steel or by really figuring out which pieces of armor you’ll really need and staying minimal.

As for strain on vehicle components, one of the major places that people tend to see this is on their suspension and driveline. To accommodate more weight, you may have to go with stiffer springs, shocks, leaf springs, tie rods, and more. Always plan ahead on exactly what armor you’ll be purchasing, how much it weighs, and the proper modifications you’ll need to make to ensure your vehicle stays working properly.

Budget

Armor can be super expensive, and even more depending on which materials and build quality you decide to go with. This is one of the main reasons why you don’t see every popular overland vehicle come equipped with front bumpers, full skid plates, rock sliders, and more from the factory.

Cutting Body Panels

If you are looking to keep your vehicle in pristine condition by adding armor, it’s also super important to take into account that some armor modifications, such as high clearance front bumpers, will require you to cut body panels, fender liners, and more to accommodate for the added ground clearance.

If you’re ready to purchase some armor, make sure to check out CaliRaisedLED or Overlander.com. Use Coupon Code OVERLANDAHOLIC5 for 5% off on CaliRaisedLED.com