For those of you who have gotten the F-150 Bug Shield, how does that attach to the truck? And also, I have seen other shields that require little rubber ***** to be stuck on the front of your hood so the shield doesn't bounce off it and damage the paint. Are those required for this shield? And how does it hold up at high speeds?

Thanks

 

Guigster, I have the low profile Ford bug shield. It is sandwiched between the hood and the grill. Try your search, their are a few threads about the installation. No little rubber *****, but it does have two clips that are installed on each end of the hood that the shield screws into, but it gives you some protective plastic shields to put on you paint before the clips. High speeds has not affected mine at all yet. If you dont find the threads on the install let me know and I will explain it to you, because the instructions that come with it are only pictures.

 

Guigster,

The F150 bug shield/hood deflector gets "sandwiched" in between the grill surround and the hood. To do that, you need to either loosen (or even remove) the grill. It requires a 10mm socket (either with an extension or a deep socket for clearance) to lossen the 6 nuts at the front underside of the grill and the 4 bolts (2 each side) thast attach the grill support arms to the underside of the hood.

Once the shield/deflector has been lined up, there are brackets that get slid over the front edge of the hood at either end. The shield/deflector then gets attached to these with screws. There is some 3M protective adhesive film that comes with the shield to protect the paint from the bracket. The film seems to do a good job, but the downside of these deflectors is that once they are attached, you pretty much need to leave them on, because you won't want to be removing those support brackets on a regular basis.

I took mine off a couple of weeks ago, because I found myself temporarily removing it whenever I polished/waxed my truck. Then I found that there was a high pitch whistle at speeds over 55 without it, so I decided to put it back on after not being able to resolve the whistle in any other way. First, I had to scrounge up some more paint protection film in order to reinstall those brackets.

I have the low profile shield and it holds up well under high speeds. I've had my truck at 95+ on the Jersey Turnpike without any problems with the deflector or any hood vibration (the drivers side cowling was flapping, though). I will say that one downside of the deflector is that fine "grit" did work its wayin between the deflector and the very front edge of the hood and wore off some paint in spots. You'd never see it with the deflector on, but might if you decide to take it off.

 

Thanks guys. My whole deciding factor is that I want something that will not defeat my purpose. In other words, I don't want to put something on that will damage the paint in any way, since that's what I'm trying to prevent. Clips sliding over the edge of the hood don't sound too pleasing to me. I'm considering the clear 3M stuff that adheres right to the hood and bumper. Though that is pricey depending on how much you get covered, and I need to see it close-up on someone else's vehicle before I put it on mine.

 

I agree w/ J n D. I got my truck in Sept., and was reluctant to put on the shield because I thought it would mess up the looks of the front end, and I was leery of the 'hood shake' previously reported on this forum.

But, Spring came, and the bugs kept splatterin' my windshield, and I had picked up more than a few ****** in the leading edge of the hood, and I decided to give it a try. I love the look, the function, and the protection.

It does help keep the bugs off the windshield, it does protect the leading edge of the hood, and it is a rather permanant addition, like J n D said. It does not create a hood shake - at first I thought it did, but it was the drivers side wiper that does indeed shimmy a bit more and makes you think there is a hood shake until you get used to it. I literally used a caliper to center the instalation.

Bottom line - if you like the look, the function and install it correctly, go for it!

 

Just a somewhat different perspective...although I went with an EGR carbon fiber shield to match my Shadow color, the paramount reason for the installation was to protect the soft aluminum hood from damage. Shortly after the install, it deflected a large acorn at 60mph that would surely have caused ugly damage.

 

I've had the low profile Ford F-150 on now for 2,000 miles. No problems and no noise.

 

Anyone got a pic of the smoke colored bugshield on a white truck?

I'm thinkin' hard about getting one but would like to see what it looks like first.