Bought a nice Coleman tent a few years back. Unfortunately a few of the fiberglass poles have broken and Coleman no longer offers replacement poles. Found a website last year that sold both fiberglass and aluminum poles in pre-manufactured lengths as well as kits where you could make your own poles to any length.

My question is, which is better, fiberglass or aluminum? This is a large dome tent with two smaller rooms off two of the four sides. So there are two really long pole sets that bend over the top of the dome, and then two poles that form the two rooms.

This is my tent

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/images/products/9271-141_200.jpg

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/images/floor/9271-141_a.jpg

I think fiberglass poles are more durable.

Fiberglass is heavier but more durable. Aluminum is lighter. For a tent like that you probably won't be carrying it far so I would go with fiberglass. And depending on the length of the poles, fiberglass may be your only option. I haven't seen aluminum tent poles that are all that long...

Aluminum poles will FAR outlast glass poles and are not susceptible to sun rot, liquid damage and such.

Are the poles splitting lengthwise? I had a Coleman that was doing that. As a trail fix, I stopped off at hardware store and bought some bulk heat shrink tubing. I covered the whole split section and shrunk it down with my lighter. That crap outlasted the rest of the tent. Just something to keep in mind. :D