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Got my X1 hood insulation from Bimmerfox this week. $125 shipped, with review. The box was beat up but the insulator itself was completely intact and pristine. I am impressed by both the fitment and the material quality. Like a heavy felt material with the padded parts pretty thick.
Installation takes all of 10-15 minutes. My 35i makes a lot of ticking/rattling noises just idling. With the hood insulator, I really can only hear that while in my garage where I think the sound gets bounced off the sides. While driving, all I really hear is the beautiful purrrrr of the engine when giving throttle. Of course, the limiting factor then is the wind and road/suspension noise--wish there was some easy-to-install insulation for that!
I did take 3 before and 3 after (hood insulation installation) heat readings of the exterior surface of the hood, the plastic intake filter housing and the oil filter on the engine. For approximately the same temperature outside (~77-78*F), I was getting hood readings about 12-13*F lower, intake housing 12-13*F higher, and oil filter about the same. To me that is saying the engine is operating at about the same temp but under hood temps are higher which may or may not affect intake temperatures depending on how fast the car is moving. I think it is also a safe bet that under hood temps take longer to dissipate after you park your car but I did no temperature measurements on that.
My take is that this is a high quality product at a very good price. Engine sounds are attenuated but other road/wind noises are still above and beyond any noise the engine makes. There is a heat soak potential based on what I've measured.
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