Owning and Cleaning Your Semi Truck Bumper
A big part of efficient hauling is taking care of your truck. If your semi truck isn’t working properly, it can lead to breakdowns and increased risk of accidents and injury. Your bumper requires just as much care and maintenance as the rest of your truck, even if you’ve got one of our durable custom aluminum semi truck bumpers. That’s why Truck Defender Bumpers has offered you a guide to caring and maintaining them. Some of this might already be intuitive, but you’ll need to read to the bottom to be sure you’ve got all your ducks in a row. If you need additional help, contact us about our services and how we can connect to you no matter where you are in North America.
Remember the Law
Semi trucks are big. No doubt about it. In fact, they’re so big that if you are involved in an accident, the amount of damage you can do to a small car is significant. Even low-speed impacts can be very dangerous when that size disparity is present, which is why you need to be extra cautious on the road.
But the onus isn’t just on you. There are laws in place to help minimize the number of fatalities involved in these kinds of accidents. You’ll want to make sure you’re adhering to them to ensure the safety of other commuters and to avoid heavy fines.
When you contact Truck Defender Bumpers, we’ll take care of any regulations that apply to your front bumper, but you’ll also need rear impact guards, which are designed to prevent underride fatalities if there’s a fender bender behind you. You can also look at side underride guards, which provide the same kind of protection for impacts to the side of the trailer. While these are not technically required by law (although there’s currently a proposed bill to get the ball rolling), it’s still a good way to keep other drivers safe, so we highly recommend putting this high on your list of upgrades.
Cleaning
Of course, even if you don’t experience any accidents, after a long haul, you’ve probably got a nice portrait of bugs and dirt stuck on your bumper. The key to proper cleaning is to know what kinds of products you’ll need. We’ll stick with aluminum, since that’s what we know best, but if you know your bumper is made of something else, you’ll want to do a little research on how to care for your particular part, or look it up in your owner’s manual.
When it comes to aluminum cleaning, there are very easy routes you can take. Some products will say right on the bottle that they’re an aluminum cleaning product. However, something as simple as dishwashing detergent can also be a great choice. What you want is something gentle. If it’s too harsh, then you can damage the surfaces. You’ll want to pair this with a stiff brush or an abrasive sponge. This won’t damage the bumper and it’ll help you get all that caked on grime off.
Polishing
Not everyone is interested in polishing their aluminum bumper, but in case you are, read on!
If you’ve kept up on your maintenance, then you should be able to just polish it by hand using a product designed specifically for aluminum. Again, the product is important, as using the wrong one can damage the material.
If you’re finding that polishing by hand is taking longer than it should, there’s a chance the surface has gotten too rough over time. You’ll need to sand down the bumper first, removing that top coat of oxidation and then you can start polishing. Remember to start with coarse sandpaper, and make your way up to finer grades.
Taking care of your aluminum bumper will not only improve performance, but it’ll also look a lot better! It might take a little extra time, but trust us, it’ll be worth it. If you still need your semi truck bumper, contact Truck Defender Bumpers and we’ll help you find, or make, the perfect add-on to your vehicle. We ship all across North America, so don’t wait! Let us know how we can make your next haul easier and safer.