A lot of rock salt, sand, stone, and other debris can get kicked up on a road and onto the windshield of your pickup truck during a wintry day. One of the best ways to minimize the amount of debris hitting your windshield is to install a front air deflector. A front air deflector fits over the font of the hood of your truck to help deflect debris from the road to fly up and over your windshield. Front end deflectors from retailers like Pacesetter Truck Caps & Accessories Inc are not difficult to install and most truck owners can do it by themselves in an hour or two. Here is how you can install a front air deflector on your pickup truck.

You Will Need:

  • Front Air Deflector Kit
  • Spray Cleaner
  • Alcohol Pads
  • Rags
  • Pencil

Front Air Deflector Kit

Make sure you buy a front air deflector kit that was specifically designed for the make and model of your pickup truck. The kit will come with the deflector shield and all the harness and mounting hardware you will need to install the deflector onto the front hood of your truck.

Open the kit and place all the parts on a table or work bench. Check to make sure you have all the parts that are listed on the material sheet in the box.

Clean Front Hood Area

Thoroughly clean the front hood area before you start to work on the installation of the deflector. Use a gentle cleaner to remove all the dirt and grime from the hood, and then wipe the area down with alcohol pads. This will help the adhesive parts of the kit to cling better to the hood.

Attach Deflector Shield to Hood

Connect the washers, machine screws, and clips to the pre-drilled holes on the ends of the deflector shield.

Open the hood of your truck. Place the shield against the front molding on the underside of the hood. Take a pencil and mark where the clips line up on the hood.

Take the adhesive protective tape used to protect the hood of the truck from being scratched by the clips, and slide one side underneath the molding where you have placed the pencil marks. Wrap the other end of the protective tape over the top of the hood.

Peel back the tape on the adhesive portion of the underside of the shield until a piece of tape hangs down a little bit. Make sure you do this on both sides of the deflector.

Clip the deflector onto the hood at the pre-marked spots where you placed the protective tape for the clips. Grab the little piece of tape hanging from ends of the shield and peel the tape off of the adhesive portion on the underside of the shield. Press down on the top of the shield to firmly adhere it to the hood. 

Apply Bump-Ons

Bump-ons prevent the top portion of the deflector shield from snapping back and hitting the top of the hood while you are driving.

Place the bump-ons near the both ends of the deflector.

Once the bump-ons are added, you are ready to hit the open road and test to see how well the deflector works at protecting your windshield.

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