Author Topic: Thermal Hood Pads (Read 5081 times)

fixierider84 · « **on:** December 15, 2009, 02:29:59 PM »

The thermal hood pads on the underside of my car are pretty deteriorated, and I have decided to try and replace them. The old ones appear to be spray adhered to the bare metal. I am not sure there is a good way to remove the old crumbling mess. Has anyone else replaced these? If so, how did you get the old ones off, and are there better options than the oem replacements? Thanks!

1991 E30 M42 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 15, 2009, 03:00:19 PM »

pressure washer mineral spirits and alot of time and elbow grease, it is not easy to remove the old stuff

DesktopDave · « **Reply #2 on:** December 15, 2009, 06:37:10 PM »

Get a 325is hood insulator. Cuts down on the noise a little (bad or good depending) but covers up the ugly foam pads. Fits perfectly from either plastic or diving board models, make sure you don't lose too many of the little push-pin plastic fasteners. Holes are already there too.

While you're pulling the hood cover, get an e34 (maybe e32's too?) tool kit for the trunk. Holes are pre-drilled for that too.

Only downside is that mine rubs the throttle body slightly, no big deal for me.

1991 E30 M42 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 15, 2009, 06:40:35 PM »

they rub even in the 325's, my friends rubbed the powder coat off of the corner of the intake manifold on his m20

DesktopDave · « **Reply #4 on:** December 15, 2009, 06:45:55 PM »

And the 525's too...damn BMW! My M20 has the same polished corner...

fixierider84 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 16, 2009, 03:09:36 PM »

thats interesting, sounds like the easier fix. I wouldn't mind seeing some pictures if ya got them. I assume its an oem part from bmw? The mineral spirits route seems tough

Jorgeconrico · « **Reply #6 on:** December 17, 2009, 06:19:50 AM »

I got my hood pad from BMP design. It works well, but taking off the old liner was a pain. I put a tarp over the engine bay so I wouldn't get crap everywhere and it made clean up much easier. You can kinda see a pic of the hood pad in my sig.

fixierider84 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 17, 2009, 08:04:51 AM »

thanks for the imput, those pads do look really cool, sort of a nasa rocket insulator. How have they been holding up? The tarp idea is a really good one. I was considering using a heat gun and a plastic scraper to ease the process. Do you think a heat gun would damage the paint on the other side?

DesktopDave · « **Reply #8 on:** December 17, 2009, 10:37:02 AM »

Quote from: fixierider84;83101

thats interesting, sounds like the easier fix. I wouldn't mind seeing some pictures if ya got them. I assume its an oem part from bmw? The mineral spirits route seems tough

Check 'em out...

The intake & air box both rub a little. Doesn't bother me. If I had removed the original pads it might have prevented that, but I didn't care. If I had a powder coated manifold I'd have stripped the original pad & replaced it instead. Those BMP pieces look the business though, don't they?

If you do this, be ready to break, strip or lose about ten of those little screw fasteners. I pulled a bunch from an e34 that worked far better...they're just flat push/pull pins instead of plastic screws.

I was also trying to figure out a way to get the e34 heated nozzles (I think they're standard on all e34/e38s) into the car, but the openings are different. Nothing a Dremel wouldn't fix, but I was worried they wouldn't line up on the steeper e30 windshield.

Jorgeconrico · « **Reply #9 on:** December 17, 2009, 10:44:58 AM »

Quote from: fixierider84;83126

thanks for the imput, those pads do look really cool, sort of a nasa rocket insulator. How have they been holding up? The tarp idea is a really good one. I was considering using a heat gun and a plastic scraper to ease the process. Do you think a heat gun would damage the paint on the other side?

They have been holding up great, and I've had no issues with rubbing. I just used a plastic scraper and some really strong 3M spray adhesive and it turned out fine. The pieces come pre cut, which is always a good thing. Here is the link if your interested. Kinda expensive if you consider what your getting, but then again I don't know the price of the oem pad.

http://www.bmpdesign.com/product-exec/product_id/1202/category_id/49/search_year/1991/search_model/31

Ramblin MAn · « **Reply #10 on:** December 17, 2009, 03:36:06 PM »

I used the foil lined bubble wrap as you can see in this picture.

Get it at any major hardware store in the insulation section.

fixierider84 · « **Reply #11 on:** December 17, 2009, 09:41:03 PM »

The bubble wrap looks very similar to the bmp design. Did you use the old pads as a template? Dave, as soon as I saw the pictures I knew exactly what you meant. I remember looking at that under my dad's e34 as a teenager. How many of those little divots and holes match up to the engine? The oem at bav auto are 57 for the three. I wonder how long it would take new oem ones to crumble...all things to consider. Dave, despite the rubbing of the throttle body, nothing else touches, er burns the liner.