I'm skeptical of the paint protection... Not only have I not had a hood pad for quite awhile but I don't even have the giant air cleaner that I would imagine provides quite a bit of heat shielding and no problems with the paint. Maybe if you drove full-bore for hours on end? I don't know. I would think if you have the stock air cleaner the 20 pounds of metal would be a much better heat shield than some foam stuck to the underside of the hood. I bet the foam is 90% for noise.

-Rog