My hood liner is falling apart, and coming off the fasteners. It looks like crap, and it seems to me with all the talk about heat soak in the engine, this thing should go. I did some searching, and I saw some people hypothesizing that the extra heat escaping through the hood would be bad for the paint, and I saw a few people said they had removed theirs and hadn't had any problems. Also, I found some stuff about noise, but frankly I don't think my hood liner is reducing noise much, and I can live with it now.

So, the question: Anyone out there removed the liner and had any problems as a result? Anyone removed it and had success (for a long enough period of time to be meaningful)?

How about aftermarket hoods....They don't come with hood liners do they?

jds

 

I don't believe that you need a hood liner.

 

aftermarket hoods do not come with liners. i've been considering putting some heat reflecting material in the area right above the turbos on my vented hood as i'm wondering if the heat is gonna screw up my new paint. not all over just right above the turbos.

 

yeah, I'd like to know also. Mine is falling apart.

 

when i got my car the liner was missing, and that was a year ago. since then i have seen no ill effects from not having one.
-stephen

 

I took mine off. The car feels faster now.

But really- whats a 1/4 inch of insulation gonna do in that oven?

 

I had the liner off for two years and daily drove it, nothing bad happened.

 

Someone told me they thought the liner was actually there to help the engine come up to operating temps in cold weather, rather than to protect the hood from the heat. I have no idea if its correct, but it makes sense to me.

jds

 

i took mine off awhile ago. good thing about doing this is that i new know what color my car used to be...red, not pink
kris

 

I tossed mine out a long time ago also.
I have a mazdaspeed hood now anyway. But if i were still using a stock hood, I would certainly remove the liner.

 

Keep the hood liner. Not only does it help muffle underhood engine noise, it acts as an insulator to keep the engine/turbo heat from melting your wax right off the hood. The hood won't stay waxed long without a hood liner.

 

a guy here on the forum, tampa area, silverbeast or 93 beast...something with beast in it. his name is shawn and i met him at usf...

anyway, he had a beautiful silver stone base and one day he told me that he had taken his liner off and waxed the inside of the hood and made it all shiny.

next time i saw his car ~2weeks later~ his fenders, and hood were... well, it looked like the car had sat outside since 1992 with no wax on the paint ever, needless to say his clear was flaking off and that was the least of the paint problems.
saw it with my own eyes, before and after.
they have to add tremendous heat to the engine after its warmed up, but i still reluctantly will keep mine.

raj

 

I think its supposed to protect the paint and when it catches on fire (notice I said when) it will collapse and put out the fire (yea right).

Also, on mine the area above the turbo is sagging really bad. All that heat in that one area, I have to believe over time it would kill the paint in that area.

laters.

 

Yep, you're right about the blanket. Car manufs. usually put these on cars to protect the finish, kill a fire, and muffle the sound a little. In the event of a fire, the plastic tabs that hold it in place will melt, allowing it to fall down and douse the fire.

 

I have had mine off for about 6 months and had the car painted about 2 months ago. Nothing has happened to the paint at all. I highly doubt anything will happen anyways. I say take it off.

 

Dammit...what is that, about a 50/50 split? :-) I'm not too worried about the engine noise...my car is already too loud, so what's a few more dbs...but having just painted it, I'd hate to have it deteriorate. As for the wax...I wonder how Zaino reacts to the heat. Maybe I should send a note to Sal Zaino, he usually has an answer to everthing like that.

jds

 

Same here, Ive had mine off for about a year or more now with no ill effects and under the hood looks 10x better now without that ugly thing falling apart.

Laterz

 

Agreed. Mazda put it there for a reason. The effects on the paint may take a few years before you notice it.

 

...and if I remember correctly you can buy a new hood liner for less than $100. If it's falling apart, just buy a new one! Sheesh.

 

The db reduction in interior noise is worth it alone.

 

I find it odd that some have been without the liner for years, and others had it off for 2 weeks and the paint peeled. Big difference there.

To those that haven't had a liner, and haven't had problems, do you had an upgraded radiator, intercooler, thermostat, single turbo? Basically are your cars running cooler than those who have had paint issues?

And to those that have have no liner, but have issues, what kind of temp. mods are on your cars?

 

yeah my liner has been off for god knows how long...and i dont mind it, but the paint under my hood is pretty much gone in a 2ft circle around the UIM, lol

 

If you plan on getting a vented hood sometime in the future, what's the point of spending $100 on a liner that won't fit the new hood?

Blanket the fire eh? Almost worries me enough to get a A pillar fire extinguisher (kidding).

I'll wait till it gets worse, then I'll pull it.

 

Well, the point is if its purpose is to help get up to operating temps in cold weather, and it contributes to hotter underhood temps in general, and people that don't have them have no ill effects (debatable, apparently) then I don't care if it's free, I don't want it. The real question is what are the ill effects of NOT having it? Unfortunately there appear to be a lot of very different answers.

jds

 

the guy i know, shawn, had stock sequentials, stock ic, and stock radiator.
dont know if that info makes a difference, but maybe these other guys with better radiators, single turbos and less clutter in the engine compartment in general can handle the heat better then us 'stockers'


raj