Like the title says. Reason i ask is because mine looks like ****. And tomorrow i would like to clean the underside of the hood. So, Is the padding really needed? Whats it's purpose? To keep heat from bubbling the paint?

 

Q.Padding under the hood. Can it be removed?

A.If you pull hard enough. Seriously though, most (if not all) OEMs use it for insulation. I pulled mine off because it looked like ****.

 

same reason im thinking of pulling mine. How long have you had it off? Any problems or issues since's its removal?

 

mine looks fine..but then again, theres like holes in them from the struts poking them

 

I have had mine off for about two years with no issues. My paint was faded to **** already so I am not sure if it made it any worse or not but, I haven't been able to see any differences.

BTW, I assume the car in your sig is in fact yours. Well, whoever owns it, it looks great!

 

I have been told that the underpadding is there to help extinguish underhood fires. I ordered a new one from Ray at Malloy for around 150 bucks, definitely makes the car look nicer/newer when you pop the hood .

 

I heard this too, and we all know how well it works...

 

help extinguish fires? I removed mine no issues, just better looks

 

Yep its mine. Thanks

 

Mine has been removed for the almost 2 years I've had the car (so probably longer than that). My paint job shows no sign of discoloration different from the rest of the car.

I believe the discoloration is more a result of parking the car in the sun where UV rays hit the car (not so much the actual temps of the hood).

 

I was thinking of cutting a hole in mine in one of the "triangles" that is stamped into the hood. I have problems with the top of my turbo and hose clamp rubbing there. however after reading this I might just pull the whole thing.

x...

 

In theory, in the event of a fire the little plastic pins melt and the "blanket" drops on top of the motor to starve it of oxygen. It might work, it might not. But I do know if my car had an engine fire, I don't want the car anymore. I would rather it go up in flames and collect the insurance money then get it back all charred up.


I removed mine as well and ran my car without one for 6 months or so until I sold it. No negatives that I could see. In theory it might even lower under-hood temps since there is no longer an insulator keeping the heat it. Just the hood itself. But those changes wouldn't be noticable.

 

A POOR MAN'S FIX:

One cheap way to make the lining "look" better is to get some new plastic pins. It seems like the biggest problem is that the liner rips through the material right around the pins so it can't be held up anymore. Go to the local auto parts store and get the ones with the 2" diameter. They will hold up the liner even if the holes have been ripped and enlarged.

It's a $5 fix that makes it look 70% better... not as nice as the 100% better of a new liner, but it's much cheaper :-).

Take care,
Shad

 

In the three years of ownership, it has spent maybe only a couple of weeks under something other than the sun...

Either way, Mazda had **** paint back then (I have an early 93) and no amount of waxing will do anything to help it. Time for new paint.

 

mines been off for over 2 years, no problems that i see except the bottem of my hood looks like ***.

 

Mine was gone when I bought the car. I'd intended to look into the price of a new one for cosmetic reasons...but $150 for some spun glass?

 

My hood has been through an engine fire, and though the liner didn't put the fire out, the top side of hood shows no discoloration from the fire. Just FYI