I can buy the FORD accessory nerf bars which are chrome and might possibly rust at the welds first I would imagine or I can buy a set of WESTIN New Platinum chrome over stainless steel nerf bars. I wish to hear from people who have the FORD nerf bars and my question to you is just how bad do they rust? And I wish to hear from people who have WESTIN products and ask them if they were happy with the way they mount. Given the choice which one would you buy?
Ford - Westin?
Well, I live in California near the coast.
Chrome will breathe and thus a good chrome job is really triple plated.
Oh no, I think I'm talking myself into the chrome over stainless.

 

I have the Westins and love them, of course I had to look all over to find them. I bought mine at the Pep Boys in Union City, the one in Santa Clara only had the black ones for my truck...

 

I'd go with the Westin's. I think they look better and mine were easy to install. They just bolted right on. No drilling at all. I'm guessing they would be less expensive than the OEM ones too.

 

I have the Westins on my truck and I love them

 

ZOOMZOOM,
I just installed the Westin Platinum Chrome bars on my SCrew two weeks ago. They went on a lot easier than the running boards came off (those clips were a pain).
I went with the Platinum series for the lifetime gaurantee against rusting and corosion/tarnishing. Apparently, the other Chrome-over-stainless tend to "yellow" after time. These are gauranteed against that.
The mounting was easy, and even though they don't attach to the frame, I notice no weakness from it.
I did buy splash guards and install them last week. The running boards acted as a splash guard --keeping crap off of the truck. But the bars don't. Now, I just need it to actually rain to see if these work!
Good luck! In my opinion, you can't go wrong with the Westins.