Most racing and off-road vehicles come with a roll bar for protection of its occupants  in case of a crash or roll over - either from the factory or the previous owner.  Anyone with any common sense knows that those steel bars should be covered with protective padding in case your cranium or other body parts happen to come into contact with the roll bar.  Some people just apply foam padding with electrical or duct tape wrapped around it.  It looks really tacky - especially after the sun and mud have gotten to it for a while.  Some guys wear a helmet and just paint the bars to match the vehicle.  I prefer the padded cover route.

To really dress up the look of any roll bar, Bestop makes zippered covers for roll bars in factory-matching interior colors.  Oddly enough, colors that match Bestop's soft tops, soft doors, bikini tops, etc.

The Good:  These roll bar covers come in matching factory interior colors like black, black denim, spice, etc.  They really clean up the look of a weathered roll bar.  The zippers are heavy duty.

The Bad:  They are cut to fit around a stock factory roll bar and the flimsy padding inside the cover.  Keep in mind that the "Black Denim" fabric looks black at night, but dark gray in daylight.

The Downright Ugly:  The heinously thin "padding" that comes with these covers wouldn't protect any part of the human body in an impact on the roll bar.  They are NOT rated for head impacts and not dense at all.  Other than feather-to-bar contact, they offer little protection - if at all.


My Advice:

If you have a factory roll bar, buy the cover set for your year and buy some substantial padding.  Take the cover set to a competent upholstery shop and have them alter the covers to fit the padding.  They would widen the zipper area's material on both sides of the zipper channel.

If you have a custom roll cage, buy two or three sets of various years.  Have the upholstery shop spend the time to make a set of custom covers.  Obviously, this will cost more because it's more labor intensive.

I suppose you could just buy the Haartz fabric from Bestop in bulk and make your own, but with the multiple sets, you'll have the zippers an fabric you'll need.


A Word About Padding:

You're going to want to replace the supplied "padding" with something more substantial - something with an SFI rating in the more important impact areas.  When looking for the best padding for your roll bar or cage, remember that density (not thickness) is the most important factor.  In other words, padding can be thick but not dense and your head would still suffer some degree of damage.  In areas of the bar or cage where someone's head might come into contact with the bar, you really should use an SFI rated pad.  The downside to the SFI-rated pads is they're really expensive ($20-$45 per three foot length) and most of them only cover one side of the bar since they're "C" shaped.  The other areas of the bars can have a basic pad which run about $3-7 per three foot length.  Spend the money, the safety of the human brain is well worth it.

The SFI rating of 45.1 is now required by NHRA, SCCA and NASCAR.  That means maximum energy absorption is built in and most have been rated as flame retardant padding.  If your pad is SFI rated, it will have a stamp on it telling you its rating.

Roll bar/cage padding comes in an array of colors and sizes.  Sizes are inside diameter - depending on your tubing size and outside diameter of the pad.  Some medium duty padding comes with the hole offset so the bulk of the pad faces one direction.  I purchased both types of padding from Summit Racing but they can be found at most reputable off-road stores.  http://store.summitracing.com/ and search "padding."


Cleaning:  A simple warm water and dish soap mixture will do the trick more often than not.  Take care to use a protectant that won't aid in sun fading - like "Boss Gloss."

If the zipper of the cover should ever stick, simply apply some bees wax and you'll be zippin' in no time.


Whether you go off-road with an ATV, SUV, buggie, truggie or Jeep, be smart about the padding you use to protect your head and the heads of your passengers.

This roll bar cover will clean up the look of a tattered roll bar or cage.


* * Please visit www.JeepRiver.com * *


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