Anybody else have to remove any of their heat shields? I put a y-pipe on and full OE style replacement exhaust, and now it's banging against the heatshield somewhere. I was thinking about just removing some of them, but wondering if there were any that served an important purpose that I should leave on. And while I'm at it, since the ones covering the headers are so damn ugly, anybody ever remove those? I imagine you might have to relocate something to save it from the heat.

 

heat shields do just what their name implies, shield something from the heat. you can take them off and performance won't be affected. but something near the exhaust will be. i had one car where the paint was eventually burned off. if there are wires, hoses or cables near by, they will be baked until they are brittle and break.

i don't advise taking them off.