My 2013 R56S did not come from the factory with the heat shield on the underside of the hood/bonnet (apparently they deleted it in 2011. Did they make some change in that year to justify the deletion or were they just saving money? If the latter, I want to get some heat deflection going to make sure I don't get a blistered paint job or warped hood scoop. Any suggestions on a good source?

 

As long as you've got a heat shield on your turbo, you shouldn't get any blistered paint or warped hood. I've got the same model as you, driving for a year and a half with no ill effects. You could upgrade your shield to a turbo blanket if you wanted, I know that Forge makes one that a lot of people like.

 

I think the issue used to be that the early R56 S models used to come with either no shield or a skimpy shield on the turbo, which was beefed up in 2011 as you alluded to. If you try to run a turbo without a shield, not only will you warp the hood scoop but you'll melt the valve cover as well.

 

Yep the heat shield was a fix for early MINI that had hood scoops that would warp or hood stripes that would heat/crack/fade. On the dual stipes, aka viper stripes it would do this.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...warping-2.html Post #32