I was thinking the same thing: liner vs. paint. After calling around, the general consensus with liners is you can't use the one already in the car; you have to purchase a new liner. Then there are the issues with how to clean the liner, what kind of paint will be used and its' resistance to heat. In my case, I want a different style hood so the liner wasn't an issue. Between the body shop and airbrush artist, the bottom of the hood was first done in matte black. The airbrush artist did the mural with candy colors and then the body shop did 3 coats of clear. All I do is wipe it down with Windex.