I am interested to get this and it says no drilling, I don't know where it attaches to, is it one of those large holes along the side of the car?




I am also wondering if it interferes with using the spare jack and lifts.

Looks pretty good and but the real intent is that this really stops most debris from kicking up. Wish I can see a closer picture because it looks like there is a gap between the bottom of the skirt.

 

We had the side step bar (the black round version) There are 4 holes in the undercarriage that the system attaches too, Basically the board bolts to 4 brackets. The brackets are the things actually attached to the truck, there will probably be a gap and I do not know how much of one for the boards. For the bars it was about 3 inches or so. There was no issues with the lifts at the local garage and our jack fit ok. BUT I do not know if anything is different with the mounting brackets for the boards. The more I type the less useful I think this post is so I will stop now.
Here is a picture of the bars on our Outlander.

 

Thanks, I wouldn't think they would make it interfere with jacking up the car, but I want to make sure.

Do you feel that this protected the side of the car from abrasion in winter? It looks like you added a few accessories to protect your car. Great job.

Do you feel the bars made the ground clearance less in the snow?

 

I don't think the ground clearance was really affected. The bars are of course lower than the bottom edge of the truck but they are kind of right behind the tires anyway so snow gets plowed by the tires. Rocks/ledges would be a different story but then the step would probably protect the body. I don't think they really helped much as protection. The gap was almost 4 inches so lots of stuff could still hit the truck. Mostly it helped our children get in and out and I thought they looked nice. The mouldings on the door were oem from England. We are the only ones I know to actually bother importing them. Absolutely love them, saved the door numerous times from friendly people in parking lots. After 5 years only 1 small blemish they were built very well. I really dislike the North American ones....very bland and uninspiring.
The attachments WERE just forward and back of the recommended jack points BUT they may have changed, We had a 2007 and there were some small changes year to year. You could contact Romik to find out for sure. I had to contact them b/c the dealership actually installed the brackets wrong (it was the first set they did) and the bar was hitting the mud guards. A socket wrench was all that was needed to uniinstall and then reinstall the brackets and step. Very good communication from Romik I must say.

 

I looked closer at the style of bar you got vs the one I want to order. And I can see the gap you are talking about.

The version I am getting is a full board with skid plate


So it should filter out alot of stuff getting thrown from the front tire.

Thanks for the reply and hopefully I can install mine without any drama.

 

Here is another member photo

 

Just one more question, you said it helped your kids get in and out of the vehicle. As an adult do you have problems, sometimes adding the running board just makes your legs brush against it more and there aren't really enough area for your shoe, do you have that issue with yours?

 

Well my wife is shortish and she used them to get in and out of the truck. I didn't really notice any trouble but I believe the running boards "stick" out farther than the bars. From the picture it looks like the boards reach out to the edge of the tire but the step-bar outside edge was only about 3/4 of the way to the edge of the mud guards. I would measure it but we traded the truck in on a 2012 xls so I can't sorry.

 

Still undecided if I should get this or not.. concerned about the weight and possible noise and fuel economy hit?

The part looks great quality on the Audi Q5

 

not to rain on anyone's parade or anything bad.. but are these really needed for outlanders? Its not like they are hard to get into in the first place... maybe for children?? (wouldnt know) lol