Aliexpress bed step

[superj]

i will get those ones off aliexpress some day. i really want those side steps because of how tall the dang bed is and the fact that those hitch mounted steps can;t be used when the tailgate is down.

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[FergyA]

Have either of you installed them yet? How’s the fit?

Wondering if they would work on an STX ?

I won't be installing them til the shipping damage issue is resolved. Alibaba said it will take them 3 days to mediate and give a response, so I probably won't hear back until next week. I told the seller I will accept one of the below 3 solutions, all of which they balked at.

1. They send a replacement of the damaged part
2. They refund enough of the purchase that I can buy a replacement locally from the cheapest source I can find (~$142, which is less than half of what I spent on the order after taxes and fees).
3. I send the whole order back and they send me another on their dime (since the failure to package it correctly is on them...)

I'd think 1 or 2 would be in their best interest, but they don't see it that way... They responded multiple times telling me the best they could do was $30, and that it's a small scratch and that I should just use it as is... I told them I'm NOT installing a damaged part to a brand new truck... Hoping that Alibaba just forces the return.

They finally agreed to $45. I'm going to hit it with a heat gun and call it a day since the bumper will hide mine for the most part.

Let me know how this goes... I'll admit if I can fix the gouge I'd totally love to keep the order and be done with this nonsense.

 

[RCMUSTANG]

I won't be installing them til the shipping damage issue is resolved. Alibaba said it will take them 3 days to mediate and give a response, so I probably won't hear back until next week. I told the seller I will accept one of the below 3 solutions, all of which they balked at.

1. They send a replacement of the damaged part
2. They refund enough of the purchase that I can buy a replacement locally from the cheapest source I can find (~$142, which is less than half of what I spent on the order after taxes and fees).
3. I send the whole order back and they send me another on their dime (since the failure to package it correctly is on them...)

I'd think 1 or 2 would be in their best interest, but they don't see it that way... They responded multiple times telling me the best they could do was $30, and that it's a small scratch and that I should just use it as is... I told them I'm NOT installing a damaged part to a brand new truck... Hoping that Alibaba just forces the return.



Let me know how this goes... I'll admit if I can fix the gouge I'd totally love to keep the order and be done with this nonsense.

I'm waiting for them to process.

 

[superj]

Ok , its been 3 days. Whats the haps?

 

[ATestBishop]

I just ordered my steps from Ali, lucky I had 4 new bolts ready to mount the brackets so hopefully they arrive looking brand new!

 

[FergyA]

Eyyyy, the forum is back!

Alibaba contacted me last night and said they negotiated $40 from the seller and they kicked in $115 from the platform to get to the $155 I requested. Looks like I'll be ordering the official Ford part for that side, or maybe taking the scratched one to a body shop and seeing if they can fix it for less.

The oem bolts also came in over the weekend too, so I'm ready to install the steps as soon as I get the replacement/repaired trim piece.

 

[RCMUSTANG]

Eyyyy, the forum is back!

Alibaba contacted me last night and said they negotiated $40 from the seller and they kicked in $115 from the platform to get to the $155 I requested. Looks like I'll be ordering the official Ford part for that side, or maybe taking the scratched one to a body shop and seeing if they can fix it for less.

The oem bolts also came in over the weekend too, so I'm ready to install the steps as soon as I get the replacement/repaired trim piece.

Damn, I guess i lowballed. I got the $50+tax i asked for. Lol

 

[superj]

Eyyyy, the forum is back!

Alibaba contacted me last night and said they negotiated $40 from the seller and they kicked in $115 from the platform to get to the $155 I requested. Looks like I'll be ordering the official Ford part for that side, or maybe taking the scratched one to a body shop and seeing if they can fix it for less.

The oem bolts also came in over the weekend too, so I'm ready to install the steps as soon as I get the replacement/repaired trim piece.

if you buy the ford ones, what will you sell the aliexpress ones for?

 

[ChronciallyChronic]

Hey everyone. Your first mistake was buying something from Alibaba. Your second and third mistakes was buying from Alibaba.

 

[FergyA]

if you buy the ford ones, what will you sell the aliexpress ones for?

I wouldn't be selling both. The passenger side part is perfectly fine. If I sold the damaged driver's side one I'd probably ask ~$75 for it, but I think I'm going to end up using it since all the parts sites lied about shipping costs... They all said $15-20 in the estimate shipping field, but then when I go to check out it bumps up to $45+. Brings the replacement to over $210 at the cheapest, and I don't think I'm willing to throw another $55 at this. I'm probably going to go the route of trying to find a body shop willing to touch the part up, otherwise I'll just suck it up and use it as-is probably. It's not so bad once I scuffed up the surrounding area aggressively with a microfiber cloth. Plus the mudflaps will probably hide a third of it.

Plus I'm sure I'll put a worse scratch in this at some point, it's just painful to do so intentionally when you've only had the truck for a month...

 

[ATestBishop]

Hopefully I didn't make 3 mistakes getting them from Alibaba, the process of just ordering them was sketchy enough as is

 

[FergyA]

Hopefully I didn't make 3 mistakes getting them from Alibaba, the process of just ordering them was sketchy enough as is

From what I've experienced/read generally alibaba support is fair, and if they're not you can reverse the charge with your CC company with sufficient evidence (e.g. show that the part was received damaged, and that they refused to let you return it or wouldn't offer a fair rebate). I was expecting to go this route, but was pleasantly surprised they decided to kick in some from the platform to cover the amount I asked for. ($155 seems like a lot, but is equal to refunding the shipping, plus 1/4 of the part/import costs, so it seems they felt it was reasonable).

Made an appointment with a body shop tomorrow to see if they're willing to do a touch up... If it's too small a job will maybe ask if they'd be willing to do the whole install and add the touch up on top.

 

[ATestBishop]

Yes I made sure to use a card that gives me support, I did learn that ordering anything delicate from AliExpress is a huge risk so hopefully I'll be ok. The kit has officially shipped now as they indicated it would so so far it's good. The part was $125 and total was $262 out the door with the promos I could get. With the card cash back rewards I'll be ~$255 all in and if it shows up in new condition I'll be happy to do the install myself and consider it a fair purchase

 

[FergyA]

No dice on the body shop. The estimator said they'd effectively have to sand the whole part down in order to get spray texture to look right, at which point you're past the value of the part. Looks like I'm using it as is. Will give the install a go this weekend.

 

[FergyA]

Welp, install is complete, but boy did it fight me. Passenger side was fine (which thankfully I did first), but the driver's side was cursed. Not only was it the side with the scratch (which is definitely noticeable) but then getting the original trim piece out was a bother. Not one of the scrivets wanted to come out without a fight, and then one of the 3 bolts was so rusted the metal clip embedded into the original trim had to be spun free of the plastic to get it off... (And then babied with PB Blaster). And then I discovered the Alibaba bracket was welded off kilter and one of the 4 bolt holes wouldn't line up no matter what I did.... After taking it in and out 5 times trying to make it fit I finally just had to send it with the bolt cross threaded, as I wasn't taking that mfer back out and ordering another. Took half an hour to get that one bolt in because it had to cut new threads the whole way. Then I realized there were two cracks in the bracket in the throat of the right side... (I was so focused on the scratch in the plastic I didn't even look at the metal parts closely I guess). Ended up drilling holes at the end of the cracks just to stop them from propagating and will maybe see if I can get a friend to touch them up with a welder sometime in the future (that'd mean needing to pull the plastic shroud again though, so it may just stay as-is unless it starts to rust out or something...) Then of course several of the plastic clips decided to slip and not line up during the final trim install which buggered them up, but thankfully the kit came with extras.

All in all I can't say I recommend the alibaba steps. You get what you pay for. Thankfully I'm only $175 into them or I'd be very pissed right now. Final fit and finish is at least good, that's all I can give them. The plastic clips don't snap nicely into the bosses on the trim pieces like the original, and the spots for the metal clips aren't quite molded properly to hold the metal clips positively, but I don't know that these matter all that much in the end.

Also some tips for install, the round pins on my brackets were both bent, and had to be straightened up to fit in the holes. I also found rather than shorten them it was easier to pop the two bolts and scrivet holding the forward wheel well divider partially (there's two permanent rivets which prevent it being removed entirely) and then you can squeeze the bracket back. Also highly recommend the loosening the bumper/trailer hitch method rather than drop it entirely. That worked a treat. Torquing the bumper bolts back to the specified 148 ft-lbs was fun, but you get stuck doing this no matter what.

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