Keep them long as they are painted to match. As far as the scratches you can only see them when they are removed,right? Can young that 3M clear plastic on first if it really bothers you? Stuff is easy to apply .
I might give the film a try this time just where the flare sits agains the body.
Wes, if the paint on my '01 looked as good as yours does when it is going in for repair, I would be thrilled.
What hood did you decide on?
You use your truck a lot more then I do so it's not surprising to have some battle wounds on yours, but yours still looks good!
And the hood is a stock HD with a cowl installed onto it. (Just picked the hood up yesterday from the shipping dock, will have pics when it's painted in a couple weeks) the hood is Non functional but with the twins I don't need a functional cowl.