Pic request and opinions

[4RunnerKyle]

Hello all,

Just got a 1999 SR5 highlander about a month ago and am slowly doing some maintenance to it, pesky leaky valve covers and tie rods ends....I'm new to this Toyota phenomenon.

Now, I still have the black running boards that run up into the fender flares and I want to get rid of them but money is tight to shell out the 70 dollars for the mud flaps from Toyota to fill in the bottom parts.... Does anyone run without them and have any pictures and do they look halfway decent? It is the jade mica green with the black flares.

Or even better, does anyone have any used sets for cheap that they want to get rid of?

 

[Drcoffee]

So what I did was remove the running boards and then rip off the front flare part from the boards. Because the running board supports the flaps, without the boards the stress from road stuff could bend the fenders. So I cut mine to just below the rockers, painted bedliner on the rocker panels and put on the Nerf bars. I saved $70 on new mud flaps.

 

[Millerad1651]

I just painted the body to continue the look. Unless you're up close, and know what you're looking at, it looks factory. There are pics in my build thread. Trailhead98 did the same thing, he's got pics as well.

Haven't had any problems with flares bending or lack of support either...

 

[4RUNNERgeo]

I am not sure if this will help or if we are talking about the same running style boards, granny boards as I call them. I took them off my 97' 4Runner and cut part of the curved part where it transitions from flare to the running board then reattached about 4" of it to complete the flare. A picture says 1000 words... so here are a few. If you need more pictures I can take more. The cost was $0.00 and just about 1 hour with a Dremel.

 

[Millerad1651]

The only problem I see with cutting that connecting piece is that it will be harder to sell your running boards without them. Most people interested in the boards will want the entire setup.

You can see the paint below the flare like I described...

And a further view...

what it looked like before I painted the area...

 

[4RunnerKyle]

Thanks for the pictures, they give me a much better idea of what to expect... Maybe it's the contrast between black and white that makes it so obvious, perhaps lessened by darker colors. Still on the fence here hmm.........