I thought it would be easy to choose a rock slider. I wanted something to protect the sill from damage. What I discovered is that the majority of sliders are nothing more than steps. Great to get in and out of your vehicle, and to stand upon to access the roof, yet useless in protecting the sill from damage.
Long story short, I chose Legendex over other solutions because their product provides sill protection, including a plate to stop sticks and logs from coming through the slider and denting the sill.
My build choices have been decided based on weight. What I’ve learnt is that sliders are one area weight will not be saved. My original choice was Offroad Animal sliders, yet upon inspection of these, they are steps, not sliders. They do not protect the underneath sill from damage, they only protect the sill from side impact.
This is the issue with the majority of providers. They sell their product as a slider, yet are nothing more than a step. A step provides some protection, but a slider provides total protection. The Offroad Animal sliders are lighter by 10kg, but I had to suck this up for this decision. If you run a step over rocks, the sills will get damaged, and they’re not a replaceable part of your vehicle. They take a lot of work to repair.
The saying is true, “you won’t save 100kg in one decision, but you can save 10kg 10 times.” Unfortunately, this was not one of those times for me, but the outcome is full protection of the sills. I bent the stock steps crossing a dirt mound. Dirt! The step nearly bent enough in one instance to reach the sill, let alone the sticks and small trees I’d removed from underneath the car that jammed into places.
I’ve been lucky until I got my sliders fitted. I’ve also tried to be careful.
My two cents – if you drive offroad and through the scrub, don’t try and save weight or anything less than full protection of your sills.