Aftermarket Bumper - Quality versus Cost

donn0128 wrote:
IMHO they do nothing more than add weight to your truck effectively reducing load carrying capacity.

Then you must not be familiar with how useless OE truck bumpers are these days.
Example, gmt 400 vehicles, 90s models, are about the last with stout bumpers. Had a 97 that the wife rear ended someone. Almost totallled the little suv. Only had to re align the bumper and replace the cracked plastic bumper filler behind it. Same truck pushed it 50' out of mud up to the doors with an excavator bucket pushing on the same front bumper. Only damage was a smashed license plate bracket.
Fast fwd to the last f150 series. Front bumper caved, into the tire by getting bumped by a car that sustained less damage. Same truck, rear bumper isn't even 1 piece. It's 2 pieces of tin that weigh about 4lbs each and couple light duty brackets. Seriously, the box that the bumper halves came in weighed more than the bumpers! If you jump hard enough on the corner of the STEP bumper, you'll bend the brackets.
There is a place for aftermarket bumpers for those that actually bump stuff and don't want to replace $2000 worth of parts.