protegeboy78

I have a bad rattling sound under my car and i believe it is the heatshield over the catalytic converter.... is this somethin i can just pull off and buy a new one to put back on later or is this something i really have to take care of quickly and must replace quickly after removing? and will this be hard or a pretty easy task? the noise is anoying as hell

protegeboy78

thanks, when i get my car back from the paintshop tomorrow i'll jack it up and see if i can do that

Bruce95fmla

just remove them ,, no biggie

protegeboy78

remove the heat shields? is that a good idea? doesn't it get really hot?

gshamgod12

Same thing is happening to my car, I just haven't had the time to jack it up and take a look. Everyone tells me to just remove it, but I would also reccomend fixing it if you can.

badaman3

the same thing was happening to my car so i took off my heat shield which was rusty as hell but there still was a rattle so i figured out it was also my pipe comming off from my cat. one way you could find out if it is this without puting it up on a jack it just lightly kick the back of you muffler and if u hear a rattle then its the pipe.

protegeboy78

I took a better look and the shield that is rattlings is after the cat not on top of it, there is nothing there but a piece of pipe with a shield over it what is that for?

protegeboy78

the front part of it broke loose and so its vibrating againts the exast pipe

badaman3

instead of taking my heat shield of i jacked my car up and but a tin pipe/exust clamp around the exust and the heat plate and tightend it it solved my problem.

gshamgod12

Had the same problem. Just ripped off. No rattling problem. Every mechanic I ask tells me there is no hazard. A mechanic actually did it for 10 bucks, becuase I dont have anything to get under my car with. 5 minutes tops.

nowkeg

a single heat shield made a big difference in temps. just don't park in tall grass doods.

also there are small hp losses involved with ripping it off... i think the hotter the exhaust in the pipes are, the more free flowing they will be. that is why you see expencive ceramic coating on headers or cheap asbestos tape.

i personally turn up my radio to fix the problem. i hate crawling underneath the car nowadays.

gshamgod12

First, I'm from a city, not from the sticks. I park in streets, not grass. However, I do understand that hazzard. However, I havent felt any lack of horsepower (well mine never really had any), but thanks for the concern.

murcielago

Yeah, heatshields are annoying. My last car they fell off themselves. But this thing sounds like it's rattling in 2 different places. I don't know if i should bother bringing it to Mazda for them to check it out or not. But it's kinda embarassing.. taking off from a light and all this rattling. might as well tie up some cans to my bumper and drive like that.

protegeboy78

i just got one of those metal brackets that tightens with a screw on the side to hold mine down... no more rattle

nowkeg

yeah i don't think it's a big deal, even for us counrty boyz... yall city folk got dem liquer bottles, leaves and loose trash to start fires wit...

ha ha... as for hp changes... it's barely anything, i mean c'mon a heatshield for a cat? well i'd say keep it if you can, just because, but even if you rip it off, i'm sure it's isn't too bad. i'll keep mine b/c it hasn't fallen off yet... yeah i'm gonna take a look now that skool is out and see what braket i should get... i'm not 100% sure what protogeboy is using but i want mine to be secure for as lil money as possible. heat shield will keep the rain and salt off the cat as well... something to think about.

97' dx rattler