Painting the Hood Insulation

[redlinealley]

My Hood Insulation is looking a little worn out. I would like to spray paint it to freshen it up again. I have Krylon Fusion Satin Black, It doesn't say anything on the can about fabric. Wanted to know if anyone else painted there's and what did you use?

[CB750]

Well, I suggest just replacing it (Z3 Hood Insulation) rather than painting it. (Nice item misspelling there ECS!)
High heat flat black paint would probably work well if the insulation was clean, but I suspect you have a coating of crud embedded in and on the insulation, and while you could paint over the crud and it would look okay for awhile, the paint is likely to just flake off over time. Attempting to properly clean and prep that insulation panel is way more trouble than it's worth, plus I think laying a coat of paint on the insulation increases the possibility of an unwanted flambé event if something happens to go awry under the hood.
Your insulation is probably also sagging as mine was; if you don't like how it looks, spend the $140 and replace it.

[Harvey Mushman]

I actually thought about getting a replacement for mine (which is sagging a little bit) but the one from ECS is plain while mine has a BMW roundel embossed in the middle. Given that it's a BMW part number, I'm bummed that it would appear BMW has done away with that detail :/

[CB750]

Hi Harvey;
Apparently sometime during the 2000 model year the embossed hood insulation style was superseded by the plain version, which is supposedly stiffer and formed to fit the hood contours better, probably in an effort to mitigate fuel rail cover chaffing complaints; like you, I have a 2000 M Roadster, but my original hood insulation panel didn't have the embossed BMW Roundel. The currently available replacement I installed awhile back was a taut and cleaner version of my original. I also bought new fasteners, but really only needed one as most of the originals were fine.

[Fumanchu282]

I had good success cleaning mine up using a clean microfiber towel just barely damp (not dripping wet) with hot water plus a light spray of carpet cleaner. Let the towel do the work to extract the crud, don't over-do it with the water or chemicals.

[redlinealley]

Mine is actually pretty clean and not sagging. Just worn at the high pionts from hitting engine components. I did see ECS Tuning has one, but a can of paint is a lot cheaper.

[RedRedZ]

Google "Fabric Paint" I think the paint would work if it's absorbed evenly. Scuffed areas will have a different texture so will still looked scuffed, but it will still look fresher.