Vehicle armour on ZA-Z: bullbars, window armour and tyre guards
Every vanilla car, truck and van on ZA-Z can carry a steel bullbar, armour over its windows and a steel guard on each wheel. Shut armoured windows also stop bullets reaching whoever sits behind them. Trucks, vans and ambulances get solid plates with a vision slot; sedans, small cars and sports cars get a bar grille over expanded steel. It is ZA-Z's Armour, part of the ZA-Z's Essentials download, live since 19 October 2026. More on cars in general: Vehicles and driving.
#What it protects
While a piece of armour holds, it takes the hits meant for the part behind it, so that part stays as it was.
| Armour | Protects | Wear per hit |
|---|---|---|
| Steel Bullbar | hood, the engine behind it, both headlights | 1 to 10 for the hood, 1 to 3 for the engine, headlights free |
| Windscreen Armour | the windshield or the rear windshield | 0 to 3 |
| Window Armour | one side window | 0 to 2 |
| Tyre Guard | one tyre, against gunfire | 1 to 3 |
It works whether or not anyone is in the car, so a parked car keeps its glass.
#Does armour stop bullets?
Yes, while it has condition left.
- The people inside. A shot at someone sitting in a car is stopped when the window on the shooter's side is shut and armoured. Shot from ahead, the windscreen armour counts; from behind, the rear windscreen armour. Each stopped shot wears the armour a little (0 to 2, the windscreen 0 to 3). This works with this armour, the armour on the KI5 cars and the W900's door and front plates.
- At 0 condition, or with the window wound down, the shot gets through. Without armour, a car's doors and glass stop nothing.
- The car. The glass, hood and lights behind armour are put back after a hit, within about a second, parked or not.
#Windows still open
Armoured windows open and close as normal. Closed, the armour protects the glass and you. Open, you can shoot out of it, and you can be shot through it like any open window.
#Tyre guards
A tyre guard is a steel disc bolted on the outside of a wheel. A shot tyre is put back to full and the guard wears 1 to 3 instead, so the tyre never pops under fire. Normal tyre wear from driving still happens; change tyres as usual.
- A guard worn to 0 lets the next bad tyre pop, and the broken guard falls off with it.
- No car comes with them. Fit one per wheel.
- The tyre must be on to fit a guard, and you take the guard off before you can change that tyre.
#Where do I find the Road Armour Magazine?
The recipes are in the Road Armour Magazine, found where metalworking and mechanics magazines turn up, at about half their odds. Read it to learn all four. At Metalworking 8 you know them anyway. See Loot for the rest of ZA-Z's own finds.
| Kit | Needs |
|---|---|
| Steel Bullbar | Metalworking 4, 4 metal pipes or steel/iron bars, 1 sheet metal, 10 screws, blowtorch, welding mask |
| Windscreen Armour | Metalworking 4, 2 sheet metal, 1 metal pipe or steel/iron bar, 8 screws, blowtorch, welding mask |
| Window Armour | Metalworking 4, 1 sheet metal, 4 screws, blowtorch, welding mask |
| Tyre Guard | Metalworking 4, 1 sheet metal, 6 screws, blowtorch, welding mask |
Short on sheet metal? Car doors, trunk lids and hoods you strip off for salvage can be cut up with a blowtorch and welding mask, Metalworking 4, no magazine needed: a door or trunk lid gives 1 sheet metal, a hood gives 2. You choose when; nothing is cut by itself.
#Fitting and repair
- Fit it in the Mechanics window with a wrench, Mechanics 4. Window and windscreen armour need their glass fitted first.
- One kit fits any vanilla car; it takes the shape of the car it goes on.
- Repair it in the Mechanics window like a hood: a blowtorch and sheet metal (or two small sheets), Metalworking 3.
Cars that come with their own armour (the KI5 models and the W900 with its Road Train plates) keep theirs; this armour is for vanilla cars only. Their window armour still shields the people inside, as above.