Hrdhtdvr,
Holy cow, it's been a long time! Sorry, haven't been back...
I wound up going with the custom plates from Cyclevisions, and I put the tallest sissybar available from HD on my bike. It definitely helped with mounting my T-Bags, kept it a lot more sturdy.
I don't remember which one it was, but it has a back pad on it, and it's probably made for all Softails.

Deuski, As far as the side plates, they do mount between the fender and the struts, only pushing the struts out about 1/8th". I did have to remove them to get the side plates in, but they look fine and stay put. I also put a thin sheet of black foam cushioning between the fender and the side plates, just in case I wanted to remove them in the future, I didn't want metal on metal, scratching everything up. Not that hey should move, but you never know...
The one drawback is the solo riding look. I hate having the backrest sissybar on there when I'm not carrying a passenger or gear, so now I'm looking into something more custom and cool looking that I can swap out whenever I'm just cruising around. That's how I came upon this thread again! Google brought me...
Hope you guys are still here and this helped a little!

 

I had the same problem ,wife wanted a taller back rest for my 07 FXSTC . I love the king queen seat though so i got creative

 

great idea. love the creativity. I hope you don't mind me using your idea because it is the best I've seen.
The first to replicate it for distribution will make a mint.

 

just got a set of cycle vision side plates would love to get any tips or pics of what ya had to do to put them on thanks

 

Is this a record? Just for your info, the original poster hasn't been on in 9 years.

 

Nope, I've seen double digit necroposts... I think 13 years is the oldest I've seen...