After reading on here people weren't having much luck painting them because they would still rust, I took mine off, tore them apart, sanded them good, treated them with a spray on rust inhibitor, primed them, and used Brush on bed liner from J.C. Whitney. I used 1 coat on the bars only, then assembled them with the plastic end caps and plastic treads, then went on to coat the whole shebang, plastic and all. The color doesn't match but they look OK and I hope to have them totally sealed from the attack of road salt that they use here in the winter.