Hey guys, i'm looking for a little input on an issue here. I bought an F150 a couple of months ago and the nerf bars are very well rusted and the paint is coming off them in places. I believe that these are the OEM black nerf bars, but I am not positive about this. I did some searching and found some threads about people painting them, or covering them with bedliner spray, but was unable to find very much information on results. Has anybody tried using bedliner spray? I would be coating them black so I am not too concerned with color matching.. I am basically concerned with whether or not the bedliner will actually stick to them and not make it look worse (which would be pretty hard to do). Pictures would be great if anyone has them!

edit: Mods, I just realized this is probably in the wrong forum even though it is on my 2000 xcab. Feel free to move it if necessary

 

IMHO, I would get them powdercoated...if it's too much $ for the wallet, then paint with an expoxy-based paint, Imron, etc. Those will hold up very well.

 

Any idea what powder coating would cost? I am assuming that I would have to sand them down a lot before getting this done, which would be the bulk of the work in simply painting them. I am debating whether all this is worth it, or if I should just bite the bullet and buy new ones.

 

Depending on what you have you can buy new ones on eBay pretty cheap. I tried painting my chrome ones black.......big time fail so bought new ones for my supercrew black $120 free shipping

 

Re costs- too regional, you will have to check locally.
Sanding- no...the powder coating shop will media blast & clean/prep the surface to warranty their work.

 

A potential issue with e-bay items, poor quality coatings.

 

Did herculiner years ago, problem with it and any bedliner is it sticks to paint not metal. Only place I had trouble with it was where I already had paint coming off and I painted the bar then put herculiner on. Every where else it has held up great, sounds like yours are far enough gone that bedliner won't stick good.

 

Mine are pretty much as bad as they can get.. If bedliner spray isn't going to stick to the non painted parts, then it's not going to work on mine. I may try calling an auto salvage yard in the next couple of days to see if they have a truck in the yard that happens to have some nicer looking bars on it. Or option 2 would be buying cheap ones on eBay, then coating them with bedliner before they see any salt/snow/sand.

 

What are you trying to put them on I have some I'd sell you if you were close

 

2000 xcab. I'm in ND so it's probably not worth it, thanks though. On a separate note, what is your front window tint on your 2000?

 

I can't remember for sure I don't have it anymore but I think it was 20%

 

Sand them down with a palm/finish sander with 120 grit paper, spray a coat of rustoleum self etching primer and then shoot it with 4 or 5 coats of rustoleum bedliner spray. It's about 8 bucks a can and you should use about 4 cans. Wait about 20 to 30 minutes between coats, spray from about 14 to 16 inches away. Easy fix, if you get a chip, shoot it again. I did the steps on my truck last year (as well as the bumpers and wheels), not a chip or a peel. you can tape off any rubber or put a coat on it too. (no longer in Anchorage, also in ND now)

 

^^ you have persuaded me. looks awesome.

One question though; I am assuming that since your truck is 11 years newer than mine, that your step bars were in near perfect condition when you sprayed them. Do you think I will have an issue since mine are in much worse condition? I would be sanding them down to the bare metal before painting them, because in some parts on them the metal (stainless?) is already showing along with rust in other places. I am worried that like some others have said, that the bedliner will only stick to painted surfaces.

However I suppose since they are so ratty looking the way that they are now, even if I completely fail at doing this they probably won't look any worse than they did to begin with.

Where in ND?

 

I sanded mine down too, even the chrome on the bumper got sanded enough to get it rough. The self etching primer goes on first and that is what the bedliner adheres to. You can get the spray at Menards, should be at the end of the spray paint on the bottom, also at Walmart in the automotive section. When you wash the truck later, just use some tire shine on the bedliner and it will come out perfect.
I had just the opposite problem, new truck, if I failed I screwed up a perfectly good bumper, wheels, bars and grill. Take your time in sanding, clean everything with acetone when done. I put a tarp down and set my bars on some 2 x 4 blocks don't get heavy with the bedliner or it will drip, a bunch of thin coats is better than a few thick coats. It will take about 48 hours for the bedliner to cure, maybe longer, depends on how warm it is. Did mine in the garage last winter. I'm in Minot BTW.
On a side note, on the Nissan Titan forum I am also on (TitanTalk), a guy has an 04 Titan that the original paint went bad due to a lot of offroading, he used the same rustoleum, sanded down the whole truck and bedlined it!

 

An oil guy, I see.

Going to begin on this today and see where it takes me.