Side Bars - yea or nay?

[MGV]

What are people's thoughts on side bars?

I'll put this one down as a lesson in having more of a think & research about a purchase before jumping in...



I bought these 75mm side bars from the UK & it wasn't until they arrived that I found out the bracket system for them is massive & weighs more than the bars themselves! Then I found the fitting instructions were completely useless & the included photos were of such poor quality, you couldn't tell what they were a photo of...

I advised the company I bought them from that I wanted to retain the front mud flaps & they told me the bars would be made to suit. They weren't, & I had to have around 70mm cut off & a stainless plate welded back on. The fabricators crushed the stainless tube in the process... Only slightly, but still... Pretty poor workmanship.

Think i'll persist with them for a couple of weeks & see how I feel about them then, but as it stands, probably wouldn't go down the same road again. If I keep them, i'll most likely plasti-dip them.

[heyasam]

I'm interested in side bars but only if they work as rock sliders. Are these side bars and others you commonly see just for aesthetics?

[Sunny43.5]

Speed bump friends , I couldn,t have them on ours as its lowered about 45 mm .They used to be popular on 4wds and the design was more side steps than just a round bar , those in the photo would be hard pressed to provide a decent foothold to get in or out of the van .

[Husky310]

I have a set of black aluminium ones ordered from the uk that retain the mud flaps. I use them to deflect the rocks on gravel roads to protect the paint. As for rock sliders the brackets would give away(probably slow sill damage till it rips off and causes more problems). All of this is with a 50mm lowered van running 19 inch rims. So far so good