From time to time this subject comes up around how to black out your running boards...some get them power coated but getting the rubber out is a PITA - another idea was to vinyl wrap the strips, and the other was just to get new ones (I think they make black OEM ones now? or go the China route). So now that supply chain stuff seems a bit more normal I gave it a shot and bought a set off ebay just to see what I would get!

I did the vinyl wrap strips on the OEM ones and it looked great for the first summer, but the cold weather in the Northeast got the best of it and pieces started come off with salt/sand of the winter. I got a set for $850 shipped to the US. It was surprisingly fast shipping taking under a week to arrive via Fedex. Comes with the boards themselves, the end caps, and even the plastic trim that runs right along the bottom edge of the car (above the running board). I didn't use any of the mounting hardware and tried to reuse all the OEM bolts.

The running boards themselves come off really easy. Remove the muffler to make it easier (I have G63 side mufflers on my G550) and its basically 12 bolts and the whole thing comes off with the endcaps attached. For some reason the OEM bolts were a tad too short for the new boards, so I had to take a trip to the hardware store to get longer M8 bolts, but you basically put the endcaps on the new running board (I used to ones they supplied, but the OEM ones fit as well) and then put the 12 bolts back on. Make sure if you are getting new bolts that the washers aren't too small that they push thru the base of the running board...safe bet is to get washers as large as the OEM bolt/washer , can even go a little bigger as well.

Fit is super good - didn't really have to finagle anything to get it to fit.....we will see how long the finish will last!! (Not getting rid of the OEM ones for sure!!!!)
Took some pics of them mounted and what the underside looks like...last pic are the OEM where you can see the mounting holes and how my vinyl wrap is looking pretty shabby!!!

 

That's pretty awesome. Post a link of where you bought them please. It will be interesting to see how the finish holds up over time. Particularly the section outside of the driver's door that you step on. If they are painted, and not powdercoated, I'm guessing that will start to wear over time. Still a nice solution for $850. You would pay more than that in labor and powdercoating to have a shop powdercoat them black.

 

Looks really good! Thanks for the info.

 

Here's the buyer I purchased from. I put in an offer of 850 and they accepted...maybe you can go even lower!!!!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/39425727021...3ABFBMzJv68d5h

 

I asked the seller and they told me they are painted Black.

 

I have considered removing the running boards and putting the plastic from the Prof version....but then would need to tuck the exhaust away