Which hood bug guard...

My experience with the stick on was not good for my specific needs which, as I have said, includes going through the car wash often. I put it on my F-150 thinking it would be less likely to get broken by the brushes. This proved not to be true. After about 2 years it came loose while I was driving across a very long bridge with no place to pull over and flapped in the wind long enough to knock a bunch of paint off and gouge the aluminum in several places. Fortunately the replacement covered all the spots and when I sold the truck it was still in place. For me, the stick on type is a no go. YMMV

 

I have the Avs. There is slight rubbing on the top of the plastic piece on my grill, but it is plastic, not visible and I am not worried about it. I was originally not going to get it, but got a chip on the leading edge of my hood. Works great, solid and easy to install.

 

Another vote for the AVS. I have had mine on for the last 3 years and the only issue I have is the little rubber feet you stick to the hood so it doesn't rub have turned yellow.

 

I vote for washing more. Doesn't matter which one you choose they all ugly as hell

 

I have the Weathertech, which was installed about 3 weeks ago. Easy install with bolt on parts, no necessary adhesive parts. It does come with 4 small bump stops that are supposed to be adhered to the hood, but in my opinion are not needed. There is no wind noise caused by the deflector. I would recommend the Weathertech, but have not tried any other brand.

 

I put those little bumpers on the back side of the shield, not on the hood. They’re still there, but as stated they don’t appear to even be necessary.

 

I had a bug guard on a truck back in the day and installed it like that. After a while the little rubber bumpers wore through the paint on the hood. In any case they are not visible unless you look for them so not that big of a deal.

 

So is the general consensus that these don't really do much? I was watching a video where a guy added one to his rig and I think it looks pretty decent, but in reading the comments there seems to be a decent amount of comments to suggest that these are cosmetic and don't do much if anything. Do people who use these bug guards think they have any practical impact?

 

I have one on my 3rd gen to protect the front of my hood. That is really the only painted surface, except for the small panels right below the headlights.
I will not however, put one on my fifth gen, because the entire front end is painted. Short of a full Bra, I can't protect it ALL, and the Bra thing aint happening, even if they make one.
In my opinion, the bug deflectors are useless against bugs, hence, as I said, I use the one I have only for protection.

 

I had my weathertech on swaped out on different 4runners, never used the lil bumpers and even going through the car wash often, never needed them!

 

Bumping this. Anyone else have pics with the lights?

 

You can adjust the gap, there are two adjustable rubber supports under the hood on each side, just unscrew them to het the desired clearance.

 

OMG , I remember the bra things. Had one on my Hyundai Excel back in the day... my, my what a trip down a memory lane.

 

AVS on mine. No clearance issues so far, had to adjust hood stops, no rubning on grille top. I am not sure if it rubs beneath the plastic under the hood, will take it off in a few months to check. Did scratch ynder the good during installation, should have inserted center screws first and the ones on the sides next, but did the opposite and was wrestling the center it to get it to line up with the holes. A little touch up paint fixed that. Also I received 8 screws and inserts as opposed to everything else I have seen on the internet. And the guard itsef had 8 holes maybe it is a recent iteration.

 

I want to purchase an AVS deflector as well. All the ones I'm seeing online have a massive "AVS" logo on it but yours doesn't look to have that... Did you remove it or did it not come with one?

 

The AVS logo comes off easily. If you don't do it right away, it will come off by itself after a while.

 

Instant purchase lol thanks!

 

The AVS bug guard I had did not have any adjustable rubber supports, and did make contact with the top of the grille. This is the hardware I had:




Has something changed, and do you have a photo of said rubber supports?

 

I went with the aero skin….

 

The rubber stickies that come with the deflector are to put on the hood to keep the deflector from making contact. But they’re not necessary. The bumpers to raise the hood/deflector off the grille are actually part of the truck itself. Black rubber things that you unscrew a little bit to increase the gap. One on each corner (not on the hood).

 

I agree on both points. I carefully picked where to put the little rubber stickies, but the deflector has never flexed enough in actual use to come anywhere close to making contact with the top of the hood. However, I did have to adjust the black rubber stops in the engine compartment to ensure good clearance at under the front lip of the hood. It has stayed where I set it for 10k miles.

 

Well, there you go. I was not aware that you could adjust the hood closure gap. Had I known that, I may still be running that AVS bug guard. Thanks to both of you.

 

Nope did not remove, came like this.