do hood deflectors work?

[mrcheap]

picked up my 2012 black ex-l today. was wondering if hood deflectors help "deflect" rocks from hitting the windshield. let me know what you guys think.

thanks

[kscurl01]

IMO, they do work for both deflecting rocks, and more importantly to me, deflecting rocks that tend to chip the front end of the hood. I've always had low-profile deflectors on my trucks and SUV's, and I think I've had to replace one windshield in over twenty years of driving. Could be coincidence though...

[1YESfan]

What if they actually deflected rocks but the high pitch whistle caused deer to jump in front of your vehicle? ;-)

[RSQ Pilot]

Originally Posted by 1YESfan

What if they actually deflected rocks but the high pitch whistle caused deer to jump in front of your vehicle? ;-)

Road Kill Stew.....

Used hood deflectors for years and never had that happen and I live out in deer country.... and they are thick as thieves this time of year...rut!

[landar]

Originally Posted by 1YESfan

What if they actually deflected rocks but the high pitch whistle caused deer to jump in front of your vehicle? ;-)

Then you could put the bow and arrow, shotgun and muzzleloader away and just 'hunt' with the Pilot. :-)

Actually, I thought deflectors helped to keep bugs off the windshield.

[jl_ss]

On the first gen, the hood deflector deflects rocks/bugs right into the roof area just above the windshield. I am constantly touching that area up.

[HenryBravo]

I've owned many Pilots; 3 had deflectors and 2 did not. In my experience, they definitely do not stop rocks from hitting your windshield. By the time I sold each Pilot, every one of them had 1 or more chips in the windshield, as well as many small "pock" marks. The condition of the windshields were roughly the same on each Pilot, deflector or no deflector. I've also replaced 1 windshield due to a crack caused by a rock impact, and that Pilot had a deflector. They *might* deflect the very, very smallest of rocks (the size of a grain of rice perhaps, which wouldn't chip your windshield anyway) but anything larger than that will easily make it through the deflected "wind field". I've actually seen a few of these rocks come into my field of view immediately before impact. They were all arcing in at anywhere from a 10 - 30 degree angle above horizontal. In order for the wind deflector to have been able to shift the direction of these rocks enough to miss the windshield, their overall incoming angle would have needed to be altered by anywhere from 30 - 60 degrees, which is simply too much angle to overcome. These rocks I've managed to see flying in did not change direction at all once they entered the area above the hood, and kept on coming into the windshield at the same angle - which means the wind deflector did not alter their direction at all.

The reason I keep putting wind deflectors on my Pilots is simply because I like how they look (they add a little big of muscularity/ruggedness to the front end IMO) and of course they protect the front lip of the hood immediately under the deflector.

[GoHerd]

I just put one on my 2012 Touring model. It looks great. I used the Honda model. Not crazy about the way it uses double-stick tape on the outboard mounts, but it won't matter. It'll be on there until I get rid of the Pilot. It does add to the rugged factor of the Pilot. I'm debating on a sunroof deflector -- might be overkill. Anyone else have both? How they look? I don't want to look like the accessory catalogue poster boy, but that's where I'm headed....

[GoHerd]

My Honda brand hood deflector -- dealer installed I might add -- is now coming "unstuck" from the hood. Who the heck designed this thing to require double sided tape on the outside of the truck? Wondering if I should have gone with another brand!

Anybody see any real low profile deflectors like those OEM Subaru Outback models? They sit just millimeters above the hood and follow the hood line.


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