Rogue Nerf Bars

[jrod106]

Hey Everyone - I'm thinking about purchasing Nerf Bars for my Rogue. I've seen pictures of them in several different posts and think they look really cool. I'm wondering about installation though. For anyone who's installed them on their own Rogue, how easy/hard was the installation? Is there any drilling involved? Thanks in advance.

[kerrton]

I bought a set for my Rogue off of ebay (great sale price I stumbled on) a couple years ago, I installed them myself easily and I think they look really great. They are a bit of a maintenance concern however, where I live we get severe winters with a ton of salt sand and gravel that really takes a toll on these things. It all buffs out if you buy good quality stainless but if you run your hand over the surface of mine near the front and rear wheels, they don't feel smooth anymore from all the sand blasting. Not a big deal but I do use chrome polish on them quite often.

The best part is installation was very easy, I did it myself and and the install hardware was very heavy duty and solid with brackets extending to the middle of the frame at the rear of the vehicle, I wouldn't hesitate to put a 400 lb person on one of those steps, they're very well mounted and secured. There is one spot right at the vertical pinch weld where the instructions called for a hole to be drilled, I really thought this was overkill as the other brackets were so numerous and heavy duty that I didn't feel it was necessary. In the end I did drill the two holes and add that final mount point but man it was hard going, even with carbide tip drill bit that steel was incredibly tough to drill through (just a small hole, I think it was about a 1/4").

[jrod106]

That's good news! Those things really look nice - especially in chrome. Thanks for the info.

[philipa_240sx]

kerrton,

I had Smittybilt Nerf Bars on my Pathfinder. They take one heck of a beating during the winter! Mine were powder coated black and despite the mudflaps I also installed, the powder coat was sandblasted off and they started to rust within a couple of years.

I have seen similar bars of other SUV's (Mercedes, GM, etc), and they all suffer the same issues. IMHO, either buy ones made from decent quality stainless (cheap chrome plating will also rust) or live with the fact they will start to look like crap in a couple of years.

I've known guys who go to a muffler shop and get stainless steel exhaust piping bent to size to make Nerf Bars for their pickups. Polish them up and apply some grip tape to the top and it makes a durable bar.

You guys down south have got it a bit better. The lack of sand & salt is much kinder to your vehicles!

[kerrton]

I agree, mine take a beating but luckily they are the high quality thick stainless. I also put some paint protection strips on the ends that get hit with sand and gravel the most and it works really well. After 2 winters and almost 3 years they look like new.

Definately don't buy cheap side steps or you're right, they'd get chewed up and rust very quickly!

[jrod106]

Thanks again for the info - I'll look around for some higher quality ones before purchasing.