Looking for a good tubular side step in black.
a local shop has Westin Platinum series tube steps in stock.
Any one use them? are they any good?

 

if you decide you'd like a pair i have some just sitting in my garage collecting dust.

 

Westin platinum is the way to go-had them on my ranger and have them on my F150 now

 

ive got a pair of westin step-bars. they were too close to the body to be usefull as a step so i made brackets to lower them 3" and out 2" work great now. 200 was alot to pay for something i had to modifiy though. heres what mine look like;

 

Those look like they would scrape offroad. To low for my taste.

 

i rarley ever go off-highway. they do drag in 6" of snow. being short-legged its nice to have a step to get in with. if i did want to gain more clearance for off-highway useage, 2 bolts per side would let them loose from the brackets, could have rigged it with quick-pins, but didnt figure on ever removing them. only have once, when i had to change transmissions.

 

I would go stainless. All the time when I am driving around i see step bars that are rusted through because of the road salt and other reasons. Stainless will hold up and never rust through. The problem with black is they are painted and if rocks are kicked up from the front tires or what ever and hit the bars it will mess with the paint and show the bare metal which will lead to a rust spot. Just my 2 cents

 

and another issue is that the inside of the bars aint painted at all, i poured 1/2 a qt of rustoleum in each bar and turned it back and forth to coat the inside of the tubes. i do keep close watch on the outside and touch up when needed. stainless is better, sure. but wasnt practical for the age of truck i was putting the tube steps on.

 

I see what your sayin racsan. I just meant since he has an 06 it would be good to think longterm if he intends to keep it for the long haul.

 

i have the westin patinum series bars on my truck. I bought them on ebay for $196 shipped. they were brand spankin new. and they even say ford on them.

i stripped the passenger side rear hole on mine by cross thredding it, - oops and had to re-tap it. but havent had a prob since. I generally use a cleaner wax on them and then two coats of insulator wax and they have held up well. there is some minor rust pitting on the back and bottom of the bars, but other than that their mint.

they have been on my truck since mid december 04. and thru 2.5 buffalo winters... no complaints.

tho my dad had a rather interesting idea, which maybe some day I may do. Because the stock hieght of the bar, makes the bar actually pretty useless to use as a step bar, its more for looks that anything. The reason being, is that the bar is soo close to the rocker panel on the bottom u cant get your foot in there too well, and being as its high, its close to floor hieght. Dad thought of makin a few brackets to exted the hole lower so the bars would be about an inch lower than they are, then theyd be useful. Since as of right now, their just for looks.

Also, 4 door bars look better than 2 door bars, in my opinion,. however, a 4 door cab and a 2 door cab is different and requires totally different mounting brackets.

 

I'll sell ya mine stock bars if you wanna come pick em up in Rochester. $75, heck I'll even drive a little ways to make it easier on ya.

 

I just took mine completely off cause i didn't want to snap mine in half when off roading so if u want a set i have my old ones in my garage

 

not to change the subject, but all you guys getting rid of them wouldnt happen to have chrome ones by any chance would you?


Ive been looking for some for my truck for a while....Black might work also....

 

mine







now, you must remember, i have FOUR DOOR bars on a TWO DOOR truck. in order to do this, you need the right brackets cause 4 door cabs and 2 door cabs, the rear mounting point is different!

 

anyone have the deezee 3" tubular ones in black? i think thats what im gonna go with since they're less than $200.

 

Thanks for all the replies...
got some good info

 

here's pics of my driver's side mounting brackets i fabbed up to lower and move out my bars (they were too close to use as steps, i wanted steps not "show pipes") the back one has a brace to the frame also, just is blocked from veiw due to the angle of the picture.