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Hood insulation or no?

Sabrewings

Sabrewings

New member
Any reason to keep it? Mine started falling down, and I've removed it to my trunk for the time being until I decide to either buy new clips or put it in my closet.
 


The idea behind it, in addition to providing some instulation for the hood, is that in the event of an engine fire it would fall down and smoother the fire and thus putting it out. I think we would all agree that with engine fires we've seen in the community that there is something of a flaw in that theory.

As for the insulation part, Im not sure as I have never tried, if would damage the paint on the hood if removed, particularly on lots of city driving.
 
I've gotten a few "I've done it and no problems" responses (even an owner of a black Imp, and black shows defects easily). But, I think I'll spring for the clips. Hopefully autozone or Oreilly's will have them since I need to hit them up for some wiring anyway, and maybe terminals (gauge install).
 
It's just a sound deadener. Not a fire suppression or anything like that. I took mine off shortly after I got the car 3+ years ago.

It won't hurt the paint...think of all the old muscle cars at car shows now....they don't have that problem, and they actually paint the underside of the hood like the rest of the car.
 


GTPJOE90 said:
that is true but they dont normally drive them also :)
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Exactly. It may be perfectly fine for occasional use, but Id like to see some long term driving, which with highway speeds I cant see heat building up enough to affect it, but city driving, thats where I would want to see some testing done.
 
Go on the Power Tour sometime. ;)

Also, realize that they bake the paint at the factory to cure it....and it's hotter than the under hood temps.
 
I dont doubt that, but I have seen it on other vehicles where it has caused the paint to bubble. Not real bad, but bubble nonetheless. So it may be a matter of airflow that makes it way to the under-hood area.

It would be interesting still to see a good test of all this just to settle the issue one way or another.
 
Well on my 2003 GTX is has the SLP hood with no sound damperer on it. And the paint on my car since its creation pretty much, and I have never seen any paint bubbling up on the hood or anything. And the underneath that sits directly above the SC is unmarked as well.

And the fact of it being a fire extinguishing device falls short in category. If you look at the material its the same type used the doors and behind the seats to deaden sound. I really dont see any fire retardant materials mixed in cover.

My old 98 GT had one of those covers and I would from time to time check the heat on the hood, if that thing was heat insulator or preventor.........It failed.

Just my 2 cents on it.
 


After researching this. The places that sell these insulators call them heat and sound insulation. After running mine w/o for a while the underhood paint looks faded where the supercharger is located. I put mine back on recently. While I didn't notice any sound difference the top of the hood doesn't get anywhere near as hot as it used to.

Back in 83 a friend bought a new mitsubishi starion turbo. At that time they didn't come with hood insulators. He had to have his hood repainted 3 times due to the heat from the turbo. The dealership finally told him he should pop the hood after parking to let the engine cool down to prevent anymore paint damage. I'm sure the paint wasn't as good in 83, but this still has me wondering.

When I put my IC on ,the insulator may come back off, since my hood paint doesn't look that great anyway.
 
So I suppose the LSX guys that paint their fuel rail covers with no issues...well..you get where I'm going.
 
I have an aftermarket SD hood. I don't have insulation under it. The paint on both the top and bottom are not bubbled or peeled at all. And I drive my car everyday, often in city, bumper to bumper traffic. No issues.

I would have no problem doing it on any other car as well.
 


blowfishRus6 said:
if it does bubble the paint. is it just on the inside or does it incorpirate all the way to the outside???
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If it gets hot enough to bubble the underneath it will bubble on top too. IMO it's highly unlikely 99% of the people will ever see external paint damage from not running the insulator.
 
IndeedSS said:
If it gets hot enough to bubble the underneath it will bubble on top too. IMO it's highly unlikely 99% of the people will ever see external paint damage from not running the insulator.
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You're going to have to pick a side here.....damage or no damage.
 
Reptile said:
You're going to have to pick a side here.....damage or no damage.
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Mine hood is faded underneath where the superchager sits. Seems like most people don't have any issues. When looking outside of our tiny speck of the universe, others have had engine related hood paint damage, most do not. So whether there will be damage or not is like saying will I have a accident on the way to work or not...maybe you will maybe you won't. It's not likely, but it can happen.
 
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