Do 5th gen OEM bug deflectors work?
- Thread starter badburro
- Start date
FrontRange4Runner
New member
I am considering one for mine, but not for bugs. Bugs do significantly less damage than rocks and the front of my old Impreza is proof of that. At 200k there are more enormous chips than i can count. Looks like the surface of the friggin moon. My trail has 2 sizable chips (down to the white undercoating) which were picked up within the first 500 miles.
What I would really like is an enormous "screen protector"(like a cell phone) for my windshield so that all of these tiny pits would not exist. 15k miles later and my windshield looks like crap. On the plus side it creeks, groans and tiks like a SOB so hopefully I can get it replaced under warranty while eliminating a major annoyance at the same time. Its about time someone actually invented deflector shields.....seems easy enough.
What I would really like is an enormous "screen protector"(like a cell phone) for my windshield so that all of these tiny pits would not exist. 15k miles later and my windshield looks like crap. On the plus side it creeks, groans and tiks like a SOB so hopefully I can get it replaced under warranty while eliminating a major annoyance at the same time. Its about time someone actually invented deflector shields.....seems easy enough.
eddiebx
New member
You're over thinking it buddy...just use what I posted above if you are worried. As you can see below, what I did was put on a small piece of vinyl material (the kind people use to wrap their cars) onto the edge of the hood; then I cut a small strip of that door edge molding (found a few posts up in this thread) and clamped it over that to protect the edge. After that you just need to adjust the bracket a little bit to fit over the molding and presto, you're done.
There's no chance of metal to paint contact anymore, and the paint under the door edge molding should be protected from scratches by the stick on vinyl. Please excuse the dirt and crappy picture
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JayceeP
New member
Can you zoom that out a bit? I'm trying to visualize what yours looks like. It seems the nose of your deflector curves significantly inward.You're over thinking it buddy...just use what I posted above if you are worried. As you can see below, what I did was put on a small piece of vinyl material (the kind people use to wrap their cars) onto the edge of the hood; then I cut a small strip of that door edge molding (found a few posts up in this thread) and clamped it over that to protect the edge. After that you just need to adjust the bracket a little bit to fit over the molding and presto, you're done.
There's no chance of metal to paint contact anymore, and the paint under the door edge molding should be protected from scratches by the stick on vinyl. Please excuse the dirt and crappy picture
eddiebx
New member
Does this help? That is the same bracket that I was taking a picture of above. I think the US one stands more upright vs the CAN one that seems to hug the hood closer.
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JayceeP
New member
Wow, that's a big difference. Instead of bending outward toward the front the of vehicle, the bracket on min just continues up the hood. From there you out a pin screw thru the deflector down into the bracket, you can sort of see what I mean here. This is only the inner 4 brackets. The 4 outer ones are different.not sure your idea will work for me
. Edit: not sure why the pics from my iPad are posting horizontally.Attachments
eddiebx
New member
Wow, that's a big difference. Instead of bending outward toward the front the of vehicle, the bracket on min just continues up the hood. From there you out a pin screw thru the deflector down into the bracket, you can sort of see what I mean here. This is only the inner 4 brackets. The 4 outer ones are different.not sure your idea will work for me
Hmm, I see what you mean, the underside of mine is similar to yours but your bracket seems to wrap a lot tighter around the hood's edge. Not sure if this would work in your case, but what I did to make it fit easier was elongate the square hole in the bracket (where you screw it to the underside of the hood). This helped it to let the bracket space out forward a bit more so that I could clear the molding strip.
If you see that your brackets just can't clear that much thickness from the molding strip, maybe you can just double or triple up on some hood protection film. This is exactly what I was planning to do until I thought of this method. You can get huge rolls of that stuff on ebay and just cut it into little strips.
2013Trail
New member
You're over thinking it buddy...just use what I posted above if you are worried. As you can see below, what I did was put on a small piece of vinyl material (the kind people use to wrap their cars) onto the edge of the hood; then I cut a small strip of that door edge molding (found a few posts up in this thread) and clamped it over that to protect the edge. After that you just need to adjust the bracket a little bit to fit over the molding and presto, you're done.
There's no chance of metal to paint contact anymore, and the paint under the door edge molding should be protected from scratches by the stick on vinyl. Please excuse the dirt and crappy picture
Well, I'll certainly modify mine. Yours looks like a good idea. But darn if the Toyota bug deflector mounting systems isn't a fandangled thing. I wonder why Toyota opted for metal brackets and such when most bug deflectors are screwed on through the plastic to the underside of the hood? No need to answer. Just a rhetorical question.
eddiebx
New member
Yeah, that's what we were talking about, how that mylar strips are a bit on the flimsy side and could possibly wear through, like mine did only after a couple of months.
This is what I did to fix the issue: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...en-oem-bug-deflectors-work-3.html#post1457270
JayceeP
New member
Just thought I'd post an update on my Canadian OEM hood protector. I installed it at the end of June and close to 10,000km/6,0000mi (4,500km/2,800mi road trip) later the mylar strips held up fine. The 4 outer brackets crimped the mylar strips a little bit and was cause for concern so I replaced them tonight and doubled them up. The 4 inner brackets fit quite tightly but I would imagine the extra mylar would be the safer option.
Anyway, I guess my point is this particular unit works and the mylar strips do protect the paint as there are zero marks on my paint from the 8 brackets.
Tip: you can get extra mylar strips from a bike store. Just tell them you're looking for cable rub protectors. 1engineer gave me that idea.
Anyway, I guess my point is this particular unit works and the mylar strips do protect the paint as there are zero marks on my paint from the 8 brackets.
Tip: you can get extra mylar strips from a bike store. Just tell them you're looking for cable rub protectors. 1engineer gave me that idea.
