What purpose(s) does the under-hood insulation blanket thing serve? Any issues (like cooking the paint off of the hood) with removing it?

 

I lost an oil filter gasket and had and exhaust manifold fire and this insulator kept my hood from being damaged. It is much cheaper to replace than to fix the hood.

It's inexpensive and weighs virtually nothing. Why bother it? It's cheap insurance.

Regards,
J-

 

I was thinking removing it may help with heat dissipation....obviously that's not a good think in the event of a fire, but under normal circumstances I was wondering if it would reduce under-hood temps significantly.

 

It is probably used as sound deadening material.

 

I have seen a few examples of older cars/trucks that have never seen body damage (accidents) or any other mishaps to the paint. It seems to me that when the paint does eventually begin to go bad, it usually starts on the hood. I wonder if these are a result of the insulation either having deteriorated or somehow got removed and the heat from the engine worked at baking the paint off over the years?

 

Or it could be because it's a large, flat surface and the sun has the most perpendicular angle????.................

 

I'm sure that contributed to it but the roof and trunk lids did not show the same effects.

 

It is there to protect against heat damage to the hood paint from shrink/swell effect, which can cause crazing. Also, to lower noise for interior and to meet drive by noise regs.

On some cars (example 2003 Cobra) there is a mettallic backing on the hood insulator connected to a ground wire on the the fender sheetmetal. Why? Because the car has a composite hood, and AM radio static would be worse since composites do not block RF energy.

Dd you know that fiberglas was invented to house radar units in WWII just for this property?