Catalytic converter shield...purpose?

Joined
27 September 2010
Messages
174
Location
OKC
During installation of an aftermarket exhaust, I took off the heat shield for both cats in order to get to the bolts between muffler and cats. I didn't put the shields back on. My engineer mind deemed them unnecessary. They wouldn't be good for heat shields, and the cats themselves seem sturdy enough to resilient against road debris. If I hit anything big enough to damage the cats, I doubt those little shields would help.

Does anybody else run with them off? What about the guys running test pipes?
 
they may be to prevent the cats from starting a fire if the car was parked over,say, some dry grass when hot.a mechanic told me that was a consideration when he took some heat shields which were rattling around off of my integra.
 
I've got aftermarket headers,test pipes, and muffler so I am running sans heatshields. Even if they don't really serve much of a purpose from an engineering standpoint, I'm sure there are insurance and safety regulations reasons for them.
 
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