Master Thread: Review of the EV Sportline RMaxx Running Boards/Sliders (from Team 1EV)

[jebinc]

My tread depth is like 7 or 8/32 I think. Almost 6k miles. Mostly short trips around town. Work from home at the moment.

Many thanks, I was robbed by trusting someone. Never again. Mine have about 7.5-9, depending; they were advertised as 2023 new, only been used for 80 miles/two days. Lots of aero wear as well. Shame on me.

Sponsored

 

[windblowlc]

Posting a link to my running boards install review here so others can see...yellow welting and Gorilla patch was @jebinc 's original idea.?Much appreciated!

My running boards install, with yellow welting and hole sealing.

 

[jebinc]

Cross-post

Off topic question for those running 21” Rivian wheels.

So, I picked up a set for summer range and had them mounted yesterday. I drove around running errand ms yesterday (about 40% of battery) on the new wheels. I charged from 35% to 86 percent overnight as I have a busy day today as well. I’m showing 278 miles at 86% which, at 100% equals -324 miles if fully charged. I’m not wearing the aeros and I have the running boards installed. Thoughts? What are your estimated at 100% range (for 21s and 20s)?

 

[Lizardo]

Sounds similar to me. Haven't driven much since installing the running boards. But I think I'm still averaging like 2.2 kWh.

 

[jebinc]

Posting a link to my running boards install review here so others can see...yellow welting and Gorilla patch was @jebinc 's original idea.?Much appreciated!

My running boards install, with yellow welting and hole sealing.

Really nice work! I decided to check under the truck to see how the Gorilla has held up in the cold and wet Seattle weather as it was dry yesterday. Findings: Go GORILLA! Perfect adhesion - is as installed and as should be. This is a durable and reversible sealing option!

 

[Lizardo]

Just drove 90 miles. Didn’t reset trip meter at beginning. 70 miles. Mostly highway. Traffic at end. Avg 2.3 kwh

 

[jebinc]

Just drove 90 miles. Didn’t reset trip meter at beginning. 70 miles. Mostly highway. Traffic at end. Avg 2.3 kwh

21s, right?

 

[Lizardo]

21s, right?

Yes, 21s without aero covers.

 

[Scoiatael]

TLDR; Running boards are great, installation takes a while if you aren't used to doing similar things. Get a breaker bar to loosen the body bolts. Total installation time around 5 hours spread across 4 days.

Finally finished my installation. Ended up splitting things into steps across 4 days. This is the first modification I've ever done to a vehicle on the exterior.

Day 1 - Unpack everything, screw the faceplates onto the running board body. Took roughly 45 minutes to unpack, screw everything on and pack it back up in the box.

Day 2 - Drill holes for to access the bolts for the brackets. Used a 100mm hole saw from Amazon. Once I figured out how to properly orientate the guides I printed from the ev sportsline website, things went pretty smoothly. I covered the holes with shipping tape to temporarily keep everything clean. Overall I think this took about an hour.

Day 3 - Unscrew the body bolts and attach the running board brackets. I managed to successfully do this with a small 3/8 drive ratchet wrench for 3 of the bolts on the passenger side, but ended up stripping the last bolt badly. Ended up getting a $15 breaker bar from Walmart and made short work of the driver side bolts. Overall this took about 1.5 hours. Would have been faster if I just started with the breaker bar and if Amazon had delivered my torque wrench instead of an empty box.

Day 4 - Talked with the engineer who designed the running boards, and he confirmed it would be fine if I just attached 3 of the 4 passenger brackets. Great customer support from ev sportsline in this matter. Ended up using a box for a desk to hold up the running boards, I put the truck in low setting, and was able to attach them pretty easily. I used an old adjustable wrench I had to tighten the nuts. Attached the passenger running boards before lunch and the driver side ones after dinner. I ended up using the gorilla tape method of sealing the holes, which ended up looking pretty messy. Overall this was probably another 2 hours.

Tools I used, hole saw and drill not pictured. I ended up using the foam padding from the box to sit on and lean on while under the truck.

How the unattached bracket looks

My horrible gorilla tape job

Finished product. Very happy with the running boards, they feel infinitely more sturdy than the ones I had on my F150 Lariat and Chevy Colorado.

 

[the_mace]

TLDR; Running boards are great, installation takes a while if you aren't used to doing similar things. Get a breaker bar to loosen the body bolts. Total installation time around 5 hours spread across 4 days.

Finally finished my installation. Ended up splitting things into steps across 4 days. This is the first modification I've ever done to a vehicle on the exterior.

Day 1 - Unpack everything, screw the faceplates onto the running board body. Took roughly 45 minutes to unpack, screw everything on and pack it back up in the box.

Day 2 - Drill holes for to access the bolts for the brackets. Used a 100mm hole saw from Amazon. Once I figured out how to properly orientate the guides I printed from the ev sportsline website, things went pretty smoothly. I covered the holes with shipping tape to temporarily keep everything clean. Overall I think this took about an hour.

Day 3 - Unscrew the body bolts and attach the running board brackets. I managed to successfully do this with a small 3/8 drive ratchet wrench for 3 of the bolts on the passenger side, but ended up stripping the last bolt badly. Ended up getting a $15 breaker bar from Walmart and made short work of the driver side bolts. Overall this took about 1.5 hours. Would have been faster if I just started with the breaker bar and if Amazon had delivered my torque wrench instead of an empty box.

Day 4 - Talked with the engineer who designed the running boards, and he confirmed it would be fine if I just attached 3 of the 4 passenger brackets. Great customer support from ev sportsline in this matter. Ended up using a box for a desk to hold up the running boards, I put the truck in low setting, and was able to attach them pretty easily. I used an old adjustable wrench I had to tighten the nuts. Attached the passenger running boards before lunch and the driver side ones after dinner. I ended up using the gorilla tape method of sealing the holes, which ended up looking pretty messy. Overall this was probably another 2 hours.

Tools I used, hole saw and drill not pictured. I ended up using the foam padding from the box to sit on and lean on while under the truck.

How the unattached bracket looks

My horrible gorilla tape job

Finished product. Very happy with the running boards, they feel infinitely more sturdy than the ones I had on my F150 Lariat and Chevy Colorado.

This is great, thank you. No idea when mine are arriving but you seem to be about the same skill level as I am ? My tape will probably look worse but I did already have a breaker bar and spent some $ at harbor freight for a torque wrench etc so I think I have what I need.

Looks great on the truck and I hope it helps with entry/exit.

 

[Scoiatael]

Here are my completely non scientific efficiency comparison. There are 2 routes I'll usually drive on the weekends. Pre running boards is an average of trips, with running boards is just a single trip. The pre running boards were measured with temperatures between 50 degrees and 65 degrees. The ones with running boards was between 65 degrees and 75 degrees. Also, no additional wind noise were generated by the running boards.

Trip A - Pre Running Boards
85.75 miles, 47 mph avg speed, 2.185 mi/kw, 39.5 kw used

Trip A - With Running Boards
84.1 miles, 45 mph avg speed, 2.23 mi/kw, 40.2 kw used

Trip B - Pre Running Boards
61.4 miles, 39.3 mph avg speed, 2.11 mi/kw, 32.5 kw used

Trip B - With Running Boards
61.5 miles, 42 mph avg speed, 2.32 mi/kw, 26.5 kw used

 

[Lizardo]

This is great, thank you. No idea when mine are arriving but you seem to be about the same skill level as I am ? My tape will probably look worse but I did already have a breaker bar and spent some $ at harbor freight for a torque wrench etc so I think I have what I need.

Looks great on the truck and I hope it helps with entry/exit.

too ashamed to show my tape job underneath .... but in my defense, rushed it one morning during a thunderstorm at 6 am.... Should probably see if I can redo it.

 

[jebinc]

Here are my completely non scientific efficiency comparison. There are 2 routes I'll usually drive on the weekends. Pre running boards is an average of trips, with running boards is just a single trip. The pre running boards were measured with temperatures between 50 degrees and 65 degrees. The ones with running boards was between 65 degrees and 75 degrees. Also, no additional wind noise were generated by the running boards.

Trip A - Pre Running Boards
85.75 miles, 47 mph avg speed, 2.185 mi/kw, 39.5 kw used

Trip A - With Running Boards
84.1 miles, 45 mph avg speed, 2.23 mi/kw, 40.2 kw used

Trip B - Pre Running Boards
61.4 miles, 39.3 mph avg speed, 2.11 mi/kw, 32.5 kw used

Trip B - With Running Boards
61.5 miles, 42 mph avg speed, 2.32 mi/kw, 26.5 kw used

So, the conclusion is the Running Boards improve efficiency? We know that can’t be true, but we can conclude they don’t materially degrade efficiency! Thanks for sharing!

 

[jebinc]

too ashamed to show my tape job underneath .... but in my defense, rushed it one morning during a thunderstorm at 6 am.... Should probably see if I can redo it.

We WANT to see ??️?

 

[Scoiatael]

So, the conclusion is the Running Boards improve efficiency? We know that can’t be true, but we can conclude they don’t materially degrade efficiency! Thanks for sharing!

The conclusion is that the running boards are built with some kind of alien metal that pulls electrons from the air and transforms them into usable power for the truck.

The more realistic conclusion is that the warmer weather helped improve efficiency, and more likely than not, the running boards have no impact on range.

Sponsored