Cali Raised vs. RCI Engine Skid Plate?

Trying to pick between the two. I'll be going with aluminum with black powdercoat on either since I don't do any rock crawling, just some dirt trails and such. Anything I should know about one versus the other? With Cali Raised's sale, they're pretty close in price right now. I'm ordering ditch lights from Cali Raised so the convenience of only one order would come from there, but is there anything about either product or company I should know? Thanks!

Cali Raised

RCI

 

Well... Caliraised is a garbage company and RCI is decent. Hope that helps!

 

Can’t say anything about Cali raised. But I have rci everything on my Tacoma and my wife’s 4runner. Great products and great customer service.

 

What gives them (either of them) that reputation? I'm pretty new to modding my truck, forgive my ignorance

 

That's good to hear, I've heard good things about their service aspect. Definitely leans me in that direction

 

I also believe they have skids in stock. When I ordered they shipped the next day.

also recommend just doing plain aluminum and not the powder coat and save yourself some money.

 

I’ve had good experience with CR in Texas. Not so much in CA.

 

The powder coat would mostly be to match my truck, I'm going for a red and black color scheme. Although, I could probably achieve a similar look with flat black spray paint for cheaper. Thanks for the pointer.

 

Go with the spray paint.

 

Let's start with RCI. I have their rear bumper. It's exactly what they promise, fit was great, it was delivered ahead of schedule, and it has held up for 5 years fantastically.

Now Caliraised... my first complaint. They sell cheap Chinese garbage products, but market them as their own design. Secondly, when I stupidly ordered some armor products from them in the past, despite being listed as "in stock", they were in fact, not in stock. When they told me they were a week out, they were in fact 5 weeks out. When asking for updates, they were deceptive and ellusive. Lastly, be careful who you order from, because Caliraised LED does not equal Caliraised Offroad. They hide behind these name shenanigans, to avoid being held accountable.

Caliraised equals Alibaba garbage.

You've been warned...

 

I advise spray paint... as PC is nearly always damaged in transit. If you order PC, be ready to touch it up.

 

Gotcha gotcha. Oof. I guess I'll go with RCI then, and I will stick with the bare aluminum even if the bare aluminum is definitely cheaper from Caliraised. Would it be a bad idea to get the CaliRaised dtch lights package setup? Anything electronic makes me nervous this early in my modding journey so I liked that everything came in one package and that they have good install vids, but if you have another recommendation I'd be happy to hear it.

 

For electronics, you get what you pay for. The RCI ditch light brackets are probably fine, but RCI doesn't make the lights. So, they farm that out... probably overseas.

For lighting, many would argue your best value comes from Diode Dynamics. They make their own lights, and you get a lot of light for your money.

Edit: sorry, I just reread your post. Caliraised light products are hot garbage. Avoid at all costs. Light output is crap and they'll leak.

 

When it comes to lighting, I highly value @crashnburn80 opinion. Hopefully he can weigh in here.

 

Not ditch lights, but fog lights. However, it should give you a flavor of quality and performance.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

 

Thank you for linking that, I didn't realize how much of a lighting-related minefield I was getting into. More research to be done for sure.

 

Welcome to TW where 1 decision leads to 20 dilemmas.

 

Well at least my skid plate decision got mostly made...now to decide if I really want/need a plate bad enough to drop $450 on it.

 

Comb your local FB marketplace and CL. I see them pop up regularly.

BTW... I really like my CBI aluminum skids, but they're expensive. RCI is probably the best overall value.

 

I had looked into CBI too but had heard their customer service wasn't great, how has your experience with them been (if any)?