Under hood heat/sound insulation?

This disgusting gross piece of insulation is driving me bananas and just has to go. No way to clean it at this point. What's going to happen if I yank it off? Is it just sound or just heat, or both insulation? For the life of me I can't seem to find any existing threads about it.

 

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_y662cR2205s/S9NcQ3KTOJI/AAAAAAAAGTg/U5o75vK4EoI/s800/IMAG0147.jpg

You could always go to the junk yard and see if you can find newer looking one.

I think they are purley for heat blocking (hood paint heat protection)and maybe some kind of fire retardant material ??

There was plenty of times when i worked at an auto body shop where we would plop on the new hood of a wrecked car and forget to put this insulation back on. the stickers where needed for emissions i think, but honestly dont think you really need it.

I would remove it, clean it with greaser, let it dry, and hit it with some black spray paint. I do it all the time when detailing cars.

If you pull the insulation, the paint on your hood may be mad at you.

I'm not a paint guy, but I would imagine that the hood would heat up more than it's designed too. Could cause some paint problems in the future, Just speculating though. If it were me, I wouldn't just rip it off.

Yea, I assumed it's there for a reason. Just so fugly. I just took it off and gave it a blast with some spare high temp flat black spray I had lying around. See what it looks like in the morning/sun when it's dry and Ill put it back up.

 

The pop-its that hold that thing on are a PITA. Sooo sensitive. Just sort of pull too hard and snaaap.

Somebody should make a carbon fiber or aluminum replacement for it. I would say that it would look pretty awesome.

Ok DO NOT make the same mistake as me. I took this off one of my other cars because it looked like crap. I did not replace it and a few months later my paint on the hood was jacked to hell from the heat the engine made.

 

SO if you take it off replace it! Unless you like the cracked paint look on your hood.

There's something better than CF or aluminum...

 

Imagine the possibilities with a Spec.B + a gold foil lined engine bay...

my friend says "when your engine is on fire, the plastic pop its melt and the mat falls covering the engine, so if you open the hood when its on fire, the mat would keep down the flames"

^ That’s the funniest thing I have ever heard ... or are you being serious?

^ That’s the funniest thing I have ever heard ... or are you being serious?

 

thats what he told me, i think he said it falls and puts out the flame (didnt say with hood open/closed) which doesnt make sense to me

 

i just listened to him. im not going near the hood if my engines on fire, ill just stand back and watch it burn

 

kind of off topic...

my other friend's engine was on fire before (girls from my high school, i wasnt with them). they saw smoke under the hood and was going to open it when someone said Dont Open The Hood Its On Fire, if you open it theres going to be a huge flame!!! they waited until it stopped smoking and emergency vehicles arrived and it was on fire. so you do have people that will open hoods when its on fire/smoking

That’s interesting...

Those "pop its" are probably made of Acrylonitrile (30%) butadiene (30%) styrene (40%)

 

"Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene" or also known as (C8H8C4H6C3H3N)n

 

... Melts @ 221 degrees F.

-@ 66 PSI: 206 F

-@ 264 PSI: 193F

 

COEFFICIENT OF EXPANSION: 0.000053

 

Other fun notes about it: Temperature range from -40 to 194 degrees F

 

 

So with that say they would melt before the insulation... but trust me it’s to keep your paint from baking...

 

Good choice on not going near the car if it’s on fire!

 

...when I was a kid we had a new Dodge Aries car... it catch on fire with us in it... my dad pulled over and we got out. As for the car well it was toast! Dodge came out with a recall a few months later for the car... what did I learn from it: Don't buy a Dodge and don't design a car with the fuel line too close to the exhaust.

Much better... Though I did mangle a few of those pop-it's in the process. I would still like a professional opinion on the actual purpose of this thing. I have a feeling it's just a engine noise barrier, but until I hear different it stays on.

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_y662cR2205s/S9Rd_U1yiSI/AAAAAAAAGTk/AmKuiWrFdB4/s800/IMAG0153.jpg

That does look better. Smart for keeping it.

I'll be honest, I have also been under the impression that the purpose of that is heat shielding and engine fire shroud in case flames come about in the engine bay...

I guess these engines run hotter then some other cars that don't have insulation under the hood. Even when we had a ram horn manifold with a GT35R on the DD Civic it didn't effect the paint on the hood.

 

There was only about 2" between the ram horn and hood, we did have the manifold ceramic coated, but still there wasn't much space.

 

I would think this insulation is for sound. But the guy above said his paint was screwed up after....

 

Gmoe, is your garage damp at all ? My car sit's outside always and mine doesn't look that bad. I also do a lot of winter driving. I do rinse it once a year or so and have taken a big soapy brush to the underside of the hood and engine bay once or twice.

^Garage isn't particularly damp, no. I cleaned this thing once when I first got the car in 07. What a pain in the butt though, and it didn't really come out very good. This year just drove me over the edge. The whole car is detailed to the max and THAT fugly/crusty thing was right in your face when you pop the hood. :\

 

I drive all winter, every day on the highway back and forth to work, so I'm sure that is contributing to the crud/salt..... a lot.

Could spend the $$ at the dealer for new pop-its, or go to Auto Finishers - they have them there as well.