A lot of different truck owners tend to wonder about how effective bug or hood deflectors tend to be. Some would think that they are actually working wonders and some would like to believe that they don’t have a lot of benefits. Without any biases, let us try to get to the bottom of this. So, are bug or hood deflectors actually worth it?
Bug or hood deflectors are actually worth it especially if you are always on the road and you live in an area where there are plenty of bugs and debris that can bother your truck. It can even have a nice aesthetic appeal especially if you really like how it looks. Given its price, it certainly is worth it.
In a lot of ways, bug or hood deflectors tend to be subjective in terms of how worth it of purchase it might be for your truck especially because their purpose tends to be situational. However, if you factor in its affordable price tag, you won’t have to worry about thinking whether or not it is actually worth it or not considering that it does more good than harm to your truck.
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What is the point of a hood deflector?
At this point, you might be wondering what even is the purpose of a hood deflector. Let us look at their design first. Hood deflectors aren’t really that special when it comes to their overall look because they simply are tall plexiglass accessories that are attached to the top end of your truck. In some cases, they look ugly on your truck but there are some people who are actually fans of the look or are finding creative ways to make it look good.
Meanwhile, as to the purpose, the point of a hood deflector is to actually deflect the wind that blows through your truck while you are driving. So, when that happens, the wind will travel towards the roof of the truck as the hood deflector actually deflects the wind. This prevents bugs and debris from hitting the hood or the windshield of your truck.
As such, hood deflectors were made to actually reduce the chances of bugs splattering on your windshield or hood, which can reduce visibility or make your truck less appealing, at the very least. It also protects your windshield from any possible damage that debris can cause as the hood deflector deflects the wind over to the roof of your truck.
Do hood deflectors really work
While hood deflectors actually have a specific purpose in their design, there are some truck owners who swear that they don’t really work to serve the purpose of their design. Meanwhile, there are others who actually say that hood deflectors really work. So, who’s telling the truth?
Well, the truth is that older hood deflectors tend to be case-to-case in terms of whether they work or not because they work in some trucks but not in others. After all, not all trucks have the same designs. And the difference in the designs of the trucks and the designs of the hood deflectors are what can affect the aerodynamics of the hood deflectors themselves.
However, nowadays, certain hood deflectors are designed for specific trucks so that the design of the hood deflectors actually work well with the design of the truck. You can hardly find all-around hood deflectors because of how there is no true tried and tested design when it comes to hood deflectors. After all, different truck designs need different hood deflector designs that would allow the hood deflectors to actually do their jobs well enough.
In that sense, yes, hood deflectors actually work. But you have to make sure that the hood deflector on your truck actually matches the design of the truck itself so that you can truly notice the effects of this accessory.
Do bug deflectors affect gas mileage?
Another reason why some truck owners don’t like the idea of hood deflectors is that there is evidence that suggests that hood deflectors actually reduce the mileage of your truck. So, is there any truth to that?
Yes, it is actually true that hood deflectors can affect your gas mileage negatively. It was studied by the National Research Council in Canada that hood deflectors can actually reduce your mileage by somewhere between 1.5% and 3%. That means that it is true that hood deflectors can affect your gas mileage in a negative way considering that the design of the hood deflector can affect the overall aerodynamics of your truck.
However, there are certain things that you can take away from the study:
- The negative effect is very small and is hardly noticeable because the maximum effect is only a 3% reduction to your mileage, which isn’t a lot no matter what kind of standards you are using.
- Low-profile deflectors are pegged at somewhere in the 1.5% range when it comes to their negative impacts. That is very small.
- There are more factors that you need to be more concerned about when it comes to your mileage.
Do bug deflectors damage paint?
Another reason why there are some people who hate hood deflectors is that they believe that it damages the paint. So, is there any truth to that claim?
No, hood deflectors won’t damage your truck’s paint. Actually, one of the purposes of a hood deflector is to actually protect your truck’s paint as it deflects bugs and debris that may be able to cause some damage to the hood of your truck.
If there are some people who thought that their hood deflectors damaged their paint, it was probably only because they didn’t use the proper hood deflector design, which prevented the hood deflector from actually doing its job well enough.
Are bug/hood deflectors worth it?
Finally, are hood deflectors worth it? In our eyes, yes, it is actually quite worth it. If you factor in the relatively low and affordable price that hood deflectors have with the purpose and effects that they have on your truck, you are not going to have any problems having a hood deflector attached to that truck of yours.
The mileage issue isn’t even a problem because the effects are so small that they won’t matter. But the issue that you might have with hood deflectors might be in aesthetics especially if you don’t like how it looks. Still, if you are creative enough with how you design around your hood protector or if you actually like its design, you won’t have any problems there.
Sources:
https://www.dualliner.com/blog/are-bug-deflectors-worth-it
https://www.carid.com/articles/age-old-debate-do-bug-deflectors-work.html