Posted by Fat Boy on January 18, 01 at 09:38:51:
Howdy all,
As if the subject line didn't say it all...
I recieved from my in-laws a new Profile+ bug deflector for Christmas. Let me tell you... these things are junk.
First of all, the thing was clip on... That alone should have fired off a "take it back" flag in my head, but we all wore those ugly sweaters Grandma made, didn't we?
Anyway, I mounted the thing, and immediately started having problems. First off, the extra turbulance it produced caused my outside mirrors to vibrate eraticly. It also caused my windshield washer to be totally ineffective. I guess maybe it was the lack of air pressure on the windshield or something, but the the spray from the nozzles would end up barely catching the top third of the windshield, and most of it seemed to be deflected around the sides of the truck. It coated my mirrors a couple of times, which immediately froze, which did help with the vibration problem... Doubt that was the plan.
It also made opening the hood a little harder (never got around to adjusting the release bracke, hood stops to account for the thckness of the deflector).
So I figured I'd take it back, and either get a different brand (not likely) or spend the money on other auto-toys.
The straw that broke the camels back came a couple weeks ago going through the car wash. I know... you "ought" to take these things off for pressure washes, but frankly, you couldn't even tell I had the thing on looking out the front of the vehicle (black on black at night), and I forgot. Anyway, half way through the cycle (windows coated with soap), I hear a loud "SNAP". Wasn't sure what it was (never used this particular car wash before... thought maybe it was normal equipment sounds), so when the wash was over I drove my rig out, only to hear two more (slightly different) "SNAP"s. I got out to inspect for damage, figuring the last two snaps were just the metal plates on the wheel-stop in the wash.
Lo and behold, my bug shield was missing. I collected the bug shield remnants, and put them in a brown paper bag (it all fit very easily), and left it in the back of the sub. Two weeks passed by, and I forgot about it until Not-So-Fat-Girl got sick of seeing the big box it came in down in the basement and asked if I was ever going to take it back.
I did finally take it back yesterday, and Autozone was not at all suprised about what had happened. They said about half of the bug sheilds they sell come back within a month for similar problems.
Just thought y'all would be interested in hearing all this.
Fat Boy