[jp1203]

I have an Outback with 121k on it, therefore the heat shields rattle, and have for quite a while.

I've tried hose clamps, and they work well for a while until another section starts rattling that hadn't before. I'm getting tired of adding more and more clamps, and some pebbles have found their way into the shields and are causing noise. There's no way I'll get them off without destroying them (the bolts don't even resemble bolts anymore), so what would the harm in just leaving them off be? Behind the third cat, there's a shield between the drive shaft and the exhaust that could stay so I'm not too worried there, but up front there isn't anything between the exhaust and the floor.

Is this a really bad idea?

 

[cagranitz]

My 2001 OB with 174k miles is without almost all of the heat shields.

Runs great and is nice and quiet.

No CEL and passes state emissions test.

 

[Glennda5id]

If you insist on removing them, I would remove the bottoms and but leave the top halves and attache with exhaust clamps or hose clamps. The top half protects the underside of the car from heating up too much. If you remove, you may not have a problem initially, but long term it could lead to excessive corrosion.

 

[DenisMcG]

I removed them from my H6 last week. I was trying to track down an exhaust leak and decided to take as much of the shielding as possible. It is surprisingly difficult to remove. I had to cut all of the bolts off due to them being so rusted that they didn't look like bolts anymore. Once the bolts were off, the shielding need to be squeezed together and then pried off. I left just the small vertical section that goes up to the manifold flange.

The only area that I am concerned with is the inner CV boots. The pipes are only a few inches below. I will keep an eye on things and put them back on if I think the boots are being burnt.

 

[jp1203]

Interesting...thanks for the replies! Mine would be a pain to get off, too. My bolts don't even resemble bolts anymore either, and it looks like they're folded over eachother from from to back!

For now, it's quiet again. I took all the hose clamps off and rearranged them so that there are about 5 handling it now...I tightened them as much as possible (as far as I dared go before they would break). We'll see how it holds up. I'm taking it ~1000 miles to Maine and back in a week, so that might be a good test for it. I'm not worried about the winter if I took them off, but in the summer I would worry a bit about the heat under the floor, but mostly about driving over grass and other things that I could light on fire.

 

[cmill1154]

I know our exhausts are arranged differently but I have removed all the shields on the y-pipe. The best way I found to pull them off was to lock some Vise-Grips on the bolt and just bend it back and forth till it broke. That only takes a few times. Then use a pry bar to separate the two sides. Places that had spot welded clamps I just snipped off with tin-snips.