Any opinions on bug shields? Effective/ineffective? What are the quality brands?

I think the bug shields can add to the appearance of certain color trucks and would like to add one to mine when I get it.

Just thought I would tap into the forum's vast experience.

 

TexFx4: I've had several bug deflectors on various vehicles i've owned over the years. My opinion is that they are effective in keeping nicks,chips, etc. off only the area that they cover. It really doesn't seem to me as if they keep anymore bugs/stones off my windshield than I'd get without it on the vehicle. I agree with you that on certain color combinations they look pretty decent. On the other hand, on my white '01 Lariat Screw it looked........not so good. If I would have known that there were color coded ones out there when I got my smoke/dark grey colored one, that probably would have helped quite a bit. I didn't like the fact that even though it was installed correctly, it STILL wore down the paint to the metal on two contact points. I also didn't like the fact that when I took it off to clean/wax the area, the two-piece clip screw thing-a-ma-bob would ALWAYS strip out.

 

Thanks for the input. I'm not sure I want to sacrifice my new paint job to the friction. I have never had one on my current truck, but have seen them on plenty of others. Some of them look real sharp.

 

texfx4...neither your profile nor your post mentioned the color of your truck, but if it's black, silver, shadow grey, or (maybe?) white, the 3D Carbon Fiber shield by EGR looks fantastic and is a great fit. I installed it myself (fun...really). This PM, as I drove under am oak tree, an acorn was deflected off my hood by the shield. At 60mph, I'm sure that missle would have done some major damage to the ALUMINUM hood.

 

I have a silver/shadow grey regular cab fx4 on order. I agree with your thoughts that bug shields look good with certain colors, and I think silver is one of them.

My real hesitation at this point was the damage the bug shield would do to the paint job at the contact points.

Is it possible to install the shield without compromising the integrity of the paint job?

 

I just installed the bug guard from ford. The one that says F150 on the driver's side. It looks sharp, IMO. It is smoke & the truck is black. No pics yet.

 

I can only speak for the EGR I installed, but IMO paint contact is a non-issue. The two outboard (left-right) clips that EGR uses to quell vibration of the shield portion that projects over the leading edge of the fender slip on over clear abrasion resistant tape and there is NO WAY on this earth that there will be any abrasion of the paint between the hood and grill shell...with 6 bolts holding the two together and the shield tabs sandwiched between them, it's a rock of Gibraltar scenario.

 

I am with whitesnake. My black screw 4 x 4 has the black Ford bug guard with the F150 lettered into it....

It has a custom look.

freddy