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As a disclaimer, this is my first 4Runner, although I have owned other vehicles that I have driven in the mountains occasionally and have used primarily for overlanding. I admit I am NOT a seasoned rock crawler and probably never will be. I have traveled to CO over the past 5 years, and every time I go, I push further into the mountains and am working on gaining experience so I can comfortably and safely progress to harder "blue" trails in the future.
This is an initial review of my experience ordering a set of RCI Offroad rock sliders. For those of you who don't like to read, I will summarize this for you.
Background:
I ordered a set of Rock Sliders from RCI Offroad on June 1, 2026. The website stated delivery within 4-6 weeks. I received the order in two parts: the first, 2 large boxes containing the rock sliders, on Aug 15, and a second box with additional brackets on Aug 17. Being the eager customer I am, prior to the packages arriving, I contacted RCI a few times to check on delivery status. July 4, I was told that they were still a few weeks out; production was waiting on plates. July 30, I was told they were set to ship a week prior, but they were still waiting on hardware. Aug 7, I was updated after emailing them and was informed that "production experienced unexpected manufacturing bottlenecks while completing the tread plates. They finally shipped on Aug 12.
The following is the email I sent to RCI. My goal was not to be a PITA and sound disgruntled, but rather to provide some feedback that I hope helps them provide a better product and service to people like us. People who genuinely care about what we install, how it looks, how much it costs, and ultimately how it will function when we need it.
I want to emphasize that my purpose for sharing this in such great detail is not to bash RCI or put them on blast. I genuinely want to share my experience in the hopes that it helps someone make a decision on what product and which company is right for them for this specific piece of equipment. As I have stated and will state again, RCI does make good products and does a great job communicating and providing technical support.
Correspondence.
Good morning, Marco. I wanted to reach out to you to express a few concerns I had with this specific order, which was the 2025 4Runner Rock Sliders.
The Response.
"Good Morning Anthony,
Thank you for taking the time to share such detailed and constructive feedback. I sincerely apologize for the issues you experienced with your order, particularly the damaged packaging, the missing/separate shipment context, the hardware confusion, and especially the nick in the powder coating on your right-hand slider.
I have passed all of your points directly to our leadership, shipping, and engineering teams:
-RCI
This is an initial review of my experience ordering a set of RCI Offroad rock sliders. For those of you who don't like to read, I will summarize this for you.
In summary
If I were going to order these again, I would NOT order them from this company. This applies to the rock sliders only. I have other RCI products and have been happy with them. I would order from a company that does everything under one roof and that sells a rock slider that comes in one solid piece, without extra brackets that need to be attached to it.
If I were going to order these again, I would NOT order them from this company. This applies to the rock sliders only. I have other RCI products and have been happy with them. I would order from a company that does everything under one roof and that sells a rock slider that comes in one solid piece, without extra brackets that need to be attached to it.
Background:
I ordered a set of Rock Sliders from RCI Offroad on June 1, 2026. The website stated delivery within 4-6 weeks. I received the order in two parts: the first, 2 large boxes containing the rock sliders, on Aug 15, and a second box with additional brackets on Aug 17. Being the eager customer I am, prior to the packages arriving, I contacted RCI a few times to check on delivery status. July 4, I was told that they were still a few weeks out; production was waiting on plates. July 30, I was told they were set to ship a week prior, but they were still waiting on hardware. Aug 7, I was updated after emailing them and was informed that "production experienced unexpected manufacturing bottlenecks while completing the tread plates. They finally shipped on Aug 12.
The following is the email I sent to RCI. My goal was not to be a PITA and sound disgruntled, but rather to provide some feedback that I hope helps them provide a better product and service to people like us. People who genuinely care about what we install, how it looks, how much it costs, and ultimately how it will function when we need it.
I want to emphasize that my purpose for sharing this in such great detail is not to bash RCI or put them on blast. I genuinely want to share my experience in the hopes that it helps someone make a decision on what product and which company is right for them for this specific piece of equipment. As I have stated and will state again, RCI does make good products and does a great job communicating and providing technical support.
Correspondence.
Good morning, Marco. I wanted to reach out to you to express a few concerns I had with this specific order, which was the 2025 4Runner Rock Sliders.
- I received the rock sliders packaged in a cardboard box, and I can tell you guys try to do what you can to prevent any damage while shipping. When the box arrived, the corners were blown out, and it was apparent FedEx had tried to retape them. Luckily, you wrapped the ends really well, so there wasn't too much damage (abrasions) at what would be the front end of the rock slider. Again, when the box arrived, that part was protruding from the box. I understand that is a FedEx problem and not your issue, but I just wanted you to be aware of that. Maybe you can try to wrap the ends somehow with the foam that you use or reinforce the ends of the box somehow.
- I received the two initial boxes from FedEx, which obviously held the Rock Sliders. A few days later, I received a smaller box which included the rear bracket that has to be attached to the rock slider. I believe when the box arrived, it didn't have any descriptive sender information on it. I believe I read a thread somewhere where someone else ordered something from you and it came in similarly, where another box was shipped separately and arrived days later, so when this happened, I just assumed it was coming from you. I don't know if I missed it somewhere in the item description, but I was not aware that these were not 1 piece front to back. Had I known that I had to attach an additional bracket to the rear with bolts sticking out to connect it, I honestly would not have purchased this item from you. I would have purchased it from a company that sells this type of product in one piece.
- I'm sure you get many complaints about the hardware, but the hardware is obviously an issue. I was able to figure it out for the most part. I think I did make one phone call to your tech support, and I don't remember the guy's name, but he did a good job explaining things to me. I know you told me the delay was due to a hardware issue, and I'm sure it's hard to find people to provide this type of hardware, but possibly packaging it differently, or so that it's sorted with a description of what the hardware is on the outside and/or sending them in individual packaging, would be beneficial to the customer. I would assume that a lot of people purchasing these products are DIY errs and not exactly savvy when it comes to Different types of hardware or hardware sizes.
- I know you do your best to provide instructions. For the most part, they were somewhat easy to follow, although I would suggest labeling them in a fashion that shows installation of the right-handed side and left-handed side specifically and in bold font. I know in the description of the installation process you include the terms RH and LH to distinguish between the different sides, but I think labeling them at the top of the page would help. Especially when you're having us flip pages to get from a regular Forerunner install to the TRD Off-Road or Hybrid installation. Ultimately, if you could provide separate instructions for each Model, that would probably help alleviate a lot of the confusion about which steps we're supposed to skip and where the specific holes are or where the bolts go.
- The last issue, and for some reason the biggest one that bothered me, was that when I unboxed these rock sliders, the right-hand side had a significant nick in the powder coating. I understand these are going to get scratched up eventually and we'll take some abuse but spending the money that I did on these and then receiving them with a nick in the powder coating which even if I fill in the area in with some sort of black paint there will still be a ridge on the powder coating that I will not be able to fix unless they're sanded down and re powder coated. I believe I also read somewhere on another forum that this happened to someone else, so I'm not sure exactly what the quality control of your shop is, but it sounds like this isn't the first time it's happened.
- I will also add that I have numerous other products from you and have been happy with them and you have been responsive to my emails and have been trying to provide me with updates throughout the order being placed and shipped. Also, as I stated above, your tech who assisted me with customer service during installation was excellent.
- As far as the delay in shipping, I don't really see that as a major issue. This wasn't necessarily an item that I needed by a certain deadline, and I understand that there can be delays in the process; again, I appreciate the updates you provided.
The Response.
"Good Morning Anthony,
Thank you for taking the time to share such detailed and constructive feedback. I sincerely apologize for the issues you experienced with your order, particularly the damaged packaging, the missing/separate shipment context, the hardware confusion, and especially the nick in the powder coating on your right-hand slider.
I have passed all of your points directly to our leadership, shipping, and engineering teams:
- Packaging & Shipping: We are actively reviewing how we protect slider ends and reinforce outer boxes to prevent FedEx carrier damage and blown-out corners.
- Product Design & Separate Shipments: The rear bracket was supposed to ship together with the main slider boxes—that separate arrival was a shipping error on our end and is definitely not standard practice for us. We are also reviewing our product descriptions so customers have complete clarity regarding multi-piece bolt-on bracket designs.
- Hardware & Instructions: Updating and technical-writing our installation guides is a tedious and long process given our wide product catalog, but engineering is actively working through them to make them clearer, more consistent, and easier to follow (including side-specific LH / RH labeling at the top of pages and model-specific steps). We are also evaluating better hardware sorting and labeling to make DIY installs smoother.
- Quality Control: We take coating defects seriously, and I’m sharing your photos with our QC team to ensure items with powder coat damage don't pass final inspection.
-RCI
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