I would put it on...the high under the hood temperatures wreck the paint over time. It serves many purposes but the paint protection is very important to me. You will see many civics in particular that do not have it and also suffer from many cracks in the clearcoat. I know my old civic did not have it and these cracks appeared and started to get worse. I know for sure it was the heat because they were mostly evident only over the valve cove and the headers.

 

good point as I have seen exactly what you are talking about many times

 

Never thought about it affecting the paint.... Considering i am painting my S right now i will most likely reinstall this piece, (color change requires removing piece to change color under hood)

 

The UV will damage hood morea than the engine heat. Its the engine heat burning off the wax opening up the paint to UV. Usually top of hood starts peeling, not underside of hood. Remember, the paint was baked on with high temp in the first place.

 

This is meant to protect the paint from heat damage. It appears that whomever may have removed it left the parts where the engine comes close to the hood.

 

That's over a long long long long time. My MY04 doesn't have one and the paint inside is still like brand new.

 

Mayb it'll take longer than 4 years for this to happen w/o the insulant?