What does it do? Do I need it?

 

Keeps engine heat from ruining the paint on the hood. Depends on how much under hood heat your engine generates and how attached you are to the money it costs to repaint your hood/car.

 

Actually, the insulation is more for sound deadening than it is for heat insulation. I've run many Oldsmobiles with the pad missing with no ill effects to the paint. The "reduced sound deadener" claim for the W-cars is simply the deleted hood insulation pad, since it couldn't be used with the O.A.I. hood anyway.

 

Thanks, Joe. I had to stick a low-profile air cleaner on my car and it was being smothered by the insulation.

 

I removed mine long ago and never replaced it. The Texas sun will probably kill my paint long before the engine heat does.

 

Definitely for sound and not heat, as F85s being the base model did not receive hood pads.