Ok, well now that I'm lifted, I really want to go enjoy my 'runner as it was meant to be (off-road). The problem is, I am just as into looking good as I am into having good function. (Maybe even more looks than function, as I do about 90/10 on/off-road driving) My question is what is the best looking functional set of sliders/step bars? I remember that silver 4runner that had Jaos (sp) stuff on it, and those looked great..but how functional are they? All the ones I see that people actually use are flat black tubes..I'm hoping for something silver/charcoal and or chrome? Is there any hope? I'm sure a few people are in my shoes as well so hopefully this is a usefull thread.

 

You probably have seen this already, if not it might help you out..
https://www.yotatech.com/~corey/arti...z_round_up.htm

 

here: frontrangeoffroadfab.com has a set available..
http://www.frontrangeoffroadfab.com/sliderz.htm
powdercoated any color...

 

Well, you have to ask yourself what your priorities are, looks or protection. There is a distinct difference between sliders and step bars. None of the commercially available step bars from the big manufacturers such as jaos or smittybilt will protect you nearly as much as a real set of sliders. I doubt they will give any protection and might even do more damage when they get pushed into the sheet metal (although, I have never used them nor seen them used off road).

I would recommend real sliders even if you only go off road a couple times, they may pay for themselves, plus, they're usually cheaper than step bars. No sliders come chrome plated because they are designed to be dragged across rocks and pounded on. Chrome would be useless. The closest thing you could get is to paint them or powder coat them to whatever color you want.

Checkout the slider roundup here and see if you find something you like.

Steve

 

I like the Allpro sliders. They have a kickout section that most of the others don't. If you look at my rock sliders you'll see that all the paint is scraped off the kick up section, but intact on the rest. As far a looks, grab a can of hammerite on spray paint after each trip if you want. If you want to wheel your rig, don't go with chrom and don't expect a rock slider to keep it's paint.