Some wonder why such a rigid shiny tube on the side of a truck is called a nerf bar. Sometimes people refer to them side steps or chrome tubes because they cant grasp the concept of Nerf Bar as being a hard shiny stainless steel object. Nerf material, like the material used to make soft footballs, baseballs & frisbees you may have thrown around as a kid, doesnt really relate to some hard chrome tube you would use to step on to help you step into your truck.

So here it is. The nerf bar was a tubular device that was originally intended to be fitted to the side of a race car, often single seaters like a midget race car that competes on a race track. Nerf is also a racing term that refers to a small bump (rub) between two vehicles. When one driver bumps the other car in order to pass it, they call it nerfing. Nerf bars protect the sides of both vehicles and keeps their tires from rubbing together. Without them, the fast spinning tires can come in contact with each other causing the cars to lose control, or flip over. Sometimes having nerf bars on your truck is a good way to help protect your wheels and body kits, however if you rub your stainless steel nerf bar up against a concrete barrier, you can expect to need to replace it. Ill have to say sometimes I wish I had the old style nerf bars, because Id occasionally like to bump into a few people myself on the freeway, but I guess that wouldn’t be too nice.