Hey everyone,

Here is a recent picture of my truck


As you can see, I have the OEM nerf bars. You can also see how much snow and junk gets slammed against the bars and the brackets that hold the bars on.
(I'm installing some Duraflap mudflaps to fix that problem... and to keep my new Corsa exhaust clean)
Its so bad that the brackets on the nerf bars are rusting from all the abuse.

Now that I have the mudflaps, I want to take off the OEM nerf bars to clean and paint the brackets. While I have them off I was thinking about painting the nerf bars black (the chrome part now... I won't paint the black plastic)

What do people think about that? I did some searching and saw where people installed aftermarket black bars, but nothing about modding the OEM bars.

And for a second question... should they be flat black or gloss? I'm leaning towards flat black (with several coats of flat clear-coat to protect them).

Thanks

 

oh... here is the one picture I stumbled across that looks kinda like what I'm thinking


This is from the gallery PHS79
but I'm not sure if he painted the OEM ones or bought aftermarket?

 

You could get them Line-X'ed. Just a suggestion. They have the black color you're after and would be very well protected.

Or if you want to do it yourself you could use Herculiner as Pats04xlt recently did to his bumpers and steps, you can ask him for prep details. Turned out great.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=325473

 

My truck came with the OEM chrome bars. I wanted black ones and for them to last so I had them sprayed with Line-X for $150. No more worries about rust/scratches/dings, etc:

 

Herculining mine is the list of things to do. Mine are chrome and painting them just didnt seem like a good idea. As much as they are stepped on and dirt ground in to them, I dont think you can put enough clear on them. Herculiner is you best bet. They look as tough as nails, and are to boot!!

 

Copenhagen - those look really nice, thanks. Did you do the brackets too? It doesn't look like it from the picture.

But... unfortunately I don't really want to spend that kind of money on them right now.

Plus I wouldn't be painting over the area where I step... thats already covered in plastic. My hope is that I could safely remove all the plastic pieces, scuff up the current finish, and then paint. The only real chance of scratching is from door dings and rocks getting kicked up, but hopefully my mudflaps will protect them from rocks.

And if I have to touch them up / redo them every couple years it would not be a big deal. And if the money comes up later, it wouldn't take much to sand them down and have them line-x'ed

anyway... looking at copenhagen's gallery...

This picture makes me think I'll like the black bars... its helpful to see his DSG bottom next to the black bars.
I think I might go with a semi-gloss finish... thats sort of how the line-x looks (semi-gloss that is)

 

I have not painted my nerf bars, but I did duplicolor truck bed coating on the brackets. This helped tremendously and I have not had them chip again. I was just tired of the black paint chipping and looking like crap. If I were to paint the bars I would put this stuff on them. I'm sure its not as good as linex, but you could probably do both bars with a couple of cans. I think the cans are like 6-7 dollars each. Just throwing another option out.

jrbhc8

 

You could also have them powder coated. Dont know what that would cost though.

 

i painted mine. first i scuffed the polished aluminum finish with a red scotch brite pad. then i applied 2 coats of duplicolor trim paint. i didnt like the ultra flat finish of the trim paint so i added 2 more coats of satin black krylon fusion paint that i had sitting around from when i painted my emblems.. the paint has held up great over the past 2 months

 

No, I did not do that brackets.

 

Sweet... I think this is what I'll try to do.

Did you take the plastic pieces off? How hard was that? Any tips?

Thanks for the help!

 

I did. I originally bought the OEM black bars and later had them painted Arizona Beige like the FX2 style to match my trim.


Still black.


Painted

 

at first i taped off the plastic pieces but after i finished painting the nerf bars and took the tape off, the new black paint on the nerfs and the black plastic didnt match.. so i put a few coats of krylon fusion paint over the plastic and it looks alot better.. the paint has held up on the plastic parts good

 

Nice truck ! I had same in 04, style and color with chrome bars. They were the first thing to go. My buddy works in a body shop and I had them sanded down and painted gray, same as body color. Just cover the black treads as they will not go back on if you try and pry them off. I've long since traded the truck in but I happened to park next to it around the holiday time ( I put a gray FX4 decal and painted the bars gray so I knew it was mine ! ) and they still looked great.

 

i herculined mine and they have taken a beaten lately and not one mark or scrape on them,the stuff is really tough.You can buy a quart for $30 and have plenty left over.