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As you metioned side steps as well, you should be aware that if you do a lot of beach work, the cheap spay can type paint, may get sand blasted off while driving on the beach.
I have had this same problem with my sliders (and my tow hooks on the bullbar), i chose the paint option so i could touch up the scraches easy myself, and for rock work its great, but just one day on the beach and its bare metal city, in the salt air the bare metal rusts before you get to repaint them, so now ive had them all powder coated.
The decent paints as mentioned in this thread will resist the beach sand blast effect no problem, but i just thought id bring it up, as i had to remove all my stuff and get it blasted to get all the rust off because i used cheap paint, if you dont go to the beach dont worry, but if you do, going the decent/durable option in paint or powdercoat,may actually save you money in the long run.