AVS BUG Deflector II on Tacoma

Yep those avs ones are junk if you want to damage your grille. So you ordered a weathertech one?!

 

I picked up the 2016 Tacoma WeatherTech BugShield yesterday from the factory store. I waited quite a long time for them to find the 2016 part because it was not in their system and "too new". They finally brought one to me and it had no instructions and no mounting hardware. There were also scratches on the edges where the shrink wrap had been compromised. I waited another half hour or so and they brought me another one. I have no way to verify this, but the employee told me I was the first one to purchase the new 2016.

Later, I attempted to install the WeatherTech. It adheres to the underside of the hood w/ 6 plastic push fittings into factory square holes. Then 6 screws with poly washers. Fitment and alignment on the install was so so. It looked like it was going to fit with the hood closed and honestly it looked pretty cool (better than AVS in the looks dept). Here comes the problem. Upon carefully closing the hood all the way, the shield bends up due to making snug contact with the rubber gasket weatherstrip where hood meets grill. It put the same dent in the grill as described by another poster about the AVS II. It also took a nice paint chip out of the corner of the hood above the drivers side headlight. My honest opinion is that this was rushed to market, needs two more fastening points at the edges, and is too thick of material. Probably, the thickness of material is the worst offender because with the weatherstrip at the grill there is too much force on the plastic. Needless to say, I was not happy! Touch up paint is $16.00 by the way.

After a clearer head today, I really looked this product over. This bugshield makes contact with the entire edge of the hood. I guarantee once the hood is closed and miles are put on, it will rub the paint off the hard edge of the hood. It looks good and if it works for someone else, then great...I returned it today. Although I have not seen an AVS in person, I feel the 2016 Tacoma is not ideally designed to use a bug shield. I can get full 3M custom cut clear bra from a local installer for $139.00. Sorry for the long post, but please be choose wisely.

 

i have had the the avs since it first came out no rubbing or any issues with it over 10k miles

 

Well, yes, but after reading PM685's review,not sure I did the right thing. Will see how it goes.

 

This is the drivers side area where it chipped the paint off. Watch this area carefully on install. There is only one fastener that holds the outer edges on, yet there are two factory holes. Also, maybe a combo of 3M tape and fasteners would prevent the flex that caused this problem. I hope it works for someone else.

 

this time around I convinced the warden to forgo the bug shield and just go with the paint protection film and also skip the vent visors.

looks so much more clean looking and I don't have to deal with the above

 

Don't guess I'll pop on a Weather Tech bug deflector either. Or the vent visors. Betty can run bare ass naked!

 

Theres pros n cons to both styles I guess. Ive only ever noticed rock chips at the edge of my hood, so I went with the low profile avs aeroskin, so far no complaints here all winter. I have a small detailing brush much like a tooth brush I run against the 3m tape when I clean it incase theres any dust or rocks there that could leave marks in the paint. But I wont be getting avs window visors as there are tons of quality complaints flying around.

 

It's funny ... been checking into getting the AVS Bugflector II but not sure now. I read a bunch of great comments and then other bad comments. I talked to a friend of mine who works at a truck accessory shop and he recommended the AVS Bugflector II ... when i told him about some of the comments on here and issues he told me " usually 99% of the time it is people hurrying the installation and not centering it correctly etc " then they want to blame it on manufacturer
... not sure what to do

 

Is that the Bugflector II ?

 

This all may be True !! But this is not my first installation of one of these and I posted Pic. of the nicks it put in the plastic rim around the grill. When I looked at the AVS II I got, it needed to be ground down in two spots so it would not hit that rim. Luckey for me you can not see them and plastic does not rust Not going to use it for now. Might be checking out Weather Tect. to see what they have to offer !!

Tom C.

 

Wonder if the AVS Bugflector II has updated the deflector .. was the one you purchased right after they came out with them? Obviously they must not all be made the same as several folks say they've had them on their trucks for a while with zero rubbing or marks on grill etc. I think i'm just going to wait it out on a deflector at this point

 

yes Mine was when they first came out so may be there was a slight design flaw !! Not sure about now and they were willing to refund me !! Would like to hear some feed back my self on the Weather Tech Product !!
I installed the AVS window deflectors and love them !!!

 

Folks, I just used a heat gun to soften the edges and pushed them back a bit... No more rubbing, and no scratches....

 

I bet that spare bumper is nice for preventing small potential 'dings' and 'oopsies' from the wife.

 

Despite some of the issues highlighted in this thread, I decided to give the AVS Bugflector II a try to reduce the rock chips & bugs to the hood/windshield.

The install was straight forward & I payed careful attention to the areas of concern.
- I did not have issues with it flexing or chipping the grill. I did make sure the hood was adjusted correctly before installing as it was setting low in the front & might have caused this to happen.
- I was a little concerned about the lower piece next to the top inner side of the headlight, but after checking it & doing a test drive on interstate, no issues.
- I am doubtful how many bugs it will deflect...

The smoke color actually looks pretty good against the magnet grey metallic color.

 

It's been my experience bug shields are more of a PITA than anything else. In other words, they've never worked for me. I've had them on several vehicles and always have had bugs on my windshield and small rocks hitting it, so for me they're just not worth the effort.
Vent shades on the other hand actually do work. They keep your vehicle cooler in hot weather while keeping the rain out, and in some cases they keep wind noise down at highway speeds.
Just my 2 cents
Great looking truck btw...
Cheers!

 

I received the AVS Bugflector II from Amazon yesterday and installed it last night. Fitment was a big screwy. It was if the Bugflector was warped a little bit. At first, I screwed-in (partially) the center 4 holes. Every hole was lined up perfectly. I then went to the driver's side hole. With a little push, I could get that screw lined up and partially tightened it. However, on the passenger side, the hole was about 1/8" off. I could not get it to line up. OK, so I then took out all the screws and started again. This time I did the two outside holes. No problem. Next, I did the four center holes, but they required me to firmly push up on the plastic. Eventually, all screws were in, and it seemed like it lined up properly. I gently lowered the hood to check for alignment. All seemed okay, but the hood still required "the drop." Dropping the hood caused the passenger side corner of the Bugflector II to hit, and slightly cut into, the plastic noise piece. The driver's side had plenty of clearance. I reopened the hood and adjusted the passenger-side hood bumper. I reclosed the hood and the piece no longer hits, but the hood is not flush with the side panel.

The picture below is from moe2o4's post. Same issue except, again, mine hit only on one side.

I will redo the installation once again before either a) heating that corner with a heat gun and bend it upwards (with it uninstalled of course), b) filing it down, or c) abandoning the install and chalking it up to no good product available yet for the 16-17 Tacomas.

Sad because I think the deflectors do indeed help with debris hitting the windshield, but they don't work miracles. Upon driving two consecutive days on the highway, I had two rocks hit the windshield of the new truck. Thankfully no damage. That's two rocks in two days. I don't recall those kinds of odds in the old truck with a hood deflector installed. More on that in the next section...

You see, this is my beef as well. Why isn't there one? Maybe because the hood is so wonkily shaped that it just isn't conducive to have one work well?

My old truck was 2006 Nissan Frontier. I bought and installed the Genuine Nissan hood deflector with absolutely no problems. Fitment was spot on, and there were no issues with it rubbing or hitting. However, the hood design is completely different. The hood on the Frontier curves downward and "caps" the front nose. The 16-17 Tacoma, on the other hand, comes in behind the nose and sits flush. So even if I can manage to get mine installed 100% correct on the Tacoma, I worry about if there is enough space between the front edge of the hood, all the way across, and the Bugflector II itself. I can see the sides, and it appears OK, but checking the center section is difficult, if not impossible.

You sure of this? Was it for a 16-17? Gladly would pay the extra cash for proper and confident fitment.

I also hope it would have a better design. The AVS Bugflector II has no reason to be so bulbous. Why? The back edge is basically parallel with the hood surface. Why not just make it shorter with more of an upward flare?

Anyway, that's my long-winded spiel...

 

I just put an AVS on mine couple days ago. Because of the way the hood is designed now it doesn't look as nice as the old ones. And the strip above the grill is still exposed. Is there a clear strip I can get to protect that area? And is there another deflector that looks better? I saw a Tundra with the same deflector on it yesterday. BTW mine went on fine, wasn't warped however I did not put the clear bumpers on my HOOD like they specify - I put them on the bottom of the deflector.