Side Step Opinions. Smittybilt vs RBP

jchrisbauer13 · Jan 29, 2022

Now that I have an expected delivery date for my white XR, I’m going to be ordering some add-ons to get ready for her. Side steps are my first order of business and definitely want a set that can be used as steps and not just as rock sliders. No interest in the electric/automatic drop-down versions. The main ones competing in my mind right now are the Smittybilt SRC or Apollo versions and the RBP RX3. Any members with experience or opinion on these?

Spartan · Jan 30, 2022

jchrisbauer13 said:
Now that I have an expected delivery date for my white XR, I’m going to be ordering some add-ons to get ready for her. Side steps are my first order of business and definitely want a set that can be used as steps and not just as rock sliders. No interest in the electric/automatic drop-down versions. The main ones competing in my mind right now are the Smittybilt SRC or Apollo versions and the RBP RX3. Any members with experience or opinion on these?

I was going to post this as well and ran across your thread. I am wanting to do the exact same thing. I also don’t want drop downs as it seems like a point of failure with dirt, mud, and road salt. I’m interested to see what others think.

cgr · Jan 30, 2022

It kind of depends on what your vehicle will be doing. I can speak to smittybilt and rbp. I have the smittybilt on my daughter's sahara. They mount to the frame and are great protection for side impacts whether on or off road. I have the rbp on my 392. I love the look, and it does serve as a step. The smittybilts don't really serve as a step, as they do not drop down. I had the rbp's on my jk as well. The jk version is much better imho, as they do not have as many bolts for points of potential movement. I also like the ability to add some color to the rbp step plates. Hope this helps.
Chris

jchrisbauer13 · Jan 30, 2022

cgr said:
It kind of depends on what your vehicle will be doing. I can speak to smittybilt and rbp. I have the smittybilt on my daughter's sahara. They mount to the frame and are great protection for side impacts whether on or off road. I have the rbp on my 392. I love the look, and it does serve as a step. The smittybilts don't really serve as a step, as they do not drop down. I had the rbp's on my jk as well. The jk version is much better imho, as they do not have as many bolts for points of potential movement. I also like the ability to add some color to the rbp step plates. Hope this helps.
Chris

Thank you for your experience! Definitely will help in my decision process