What do these foam inserts under the bonnet do?

[Tpet]

Hey,

Does anyone know what do these foam inserts do? I'm planning on installing bonnet dampers but to do that, I'll either have to cut channels for the damper to sit in or completely remove them. There is one on each side of the engine compartment.

[Warrior193]

They are to help form a seal between the engine compartment and the cabin air intake grille just in front of the wiper arms.

[Tpet]

So I guess it won't be the brightest idea to remove them then.

[Baxlin]

The Octavia 3 has smaller inserts, and when I installed gas struts to replace the prop, I wondered the same.  However, in practice they just dented the insert as they lay across them.  So I left them in situ with no problems occurring.

[Tebba61]

Have put gas struts on my Karoq bonnet and they just leave a depression where the gas struts lie when shut, no need to remove 👍

[Warrior193]

4 hours ago, Tpet said:

So I guess it won't be the brightest idea to remove them then.

If necessary, cut a semi-circular recess into the foam for the gas strut - but probably not required. 

[Tpet]

1 hour ago, Tebba61 said:

Have put gas struts on my Karoq bonnet and they just leave a depression where the gas struts lie when shut, no need to remove 👍

That turned out to be the case. No removal or cutting needed. Thanks for the replies, everyone!

[Tpet]

This is how the foam insert looks like a week after installing the struts. I'll probably do some cutting to reduce the tension on the strut and the deformation on the sides of the insert.