Just bought a new black 2005 Quad Cab Hemi and I am in market for a pair of chrome side step bars. Does anyone have recomendations? Thumbing through the Summit Racing catalog I see that they offer their house brand as well as bars by Westin, the Summit bars being a little lower in price. Has anyone had experience with the Summit bars? This is great forum and I am glad to finally be a part of the HEMI family.

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Sharp truck dude. Sometimes I wish I would have got the black instead of the gray. Both look damn good.
I too would like to know if there any other options than the Westin Platinum series for the Ram 1500. They look solid, but just a little more than I am looking to spend. I need some step bars real soon. The shorter 5' members in my family are having a tough time getting in and out.

 

Do not know what part of the country you are from, but if you have winter where they use salt get the SS tubes, even if they are painted black get the SS. Also make sure all the hardware underneath is SS.

If you are not in a location where winter is an issue save some $$ and get plain old steel.

 

I got a set on ebay for $175 including shipping - pretty nice - go to ebay and search for truckparts411.

 

I got the Westin Platinum Stainless Steel Chrome. Definitely get stainless, you don't want to see rust eating your chrome a few years from now.

I searched high and low for stainless steel chrome plated steps and the westins were the only ones I could find. I got them for about $345 on ebay new in box.

 

i got a pair of better built ss nerf bars on ebay for 165. inc shipping. look good in the box....truck isn't here yet so don't know how they look on it yet!

 

I also just made an Ebay purchase from Truckparts411. They are 4 inch oval stainless steel bars. A couple of things I thought were important were that the step area was compressed not cut away and the material. Stainless steel seemed like the only option to keep them looking good in New England.

 

Definitely go with SS. I got mine off of EBay for around $189.00 shipped.

 

I've been happy with my Westin's.

 

I have had 4 new trucks in the last 3 years, all with different brand/style step bars. I just bought my latest truck a month ago. This time I bought the Mopar 4" tubular chromed aluminum step bars. By far the nicest I have seen. The application and mounting is a lot mroe efficient than any others I have had. The last reason i bought the Mopar 4" tubular besides the look and name, is warranty issues. I had a non mopar brand that fit very oddly, and it rubbed some things it shouldnt have. Well it turns out since the step bars werent Mopar brand, it didnt cover this in my warranty. So get the mopar, they look and fit the best, and the warranty is there. They are expensive through your dealer, but you can get them on ebay for the QC models for around $345 shipped to your door. Search dodge ram step bars, or dodge ram oval, dodge ram tubular, you will see the oem mopar if you look. If you have trouble let me know and I can give you the contact information of the guy I bought my truck load of mopar accessories from. The pricing is awesome! Goodluck.