Hey folks I recently took my car up to a garage to get the exhaust checked I've noticed for ages for the heat shield at the rear of car has been loose and ratting like hell for ages it's badly corroded I mentioned this to the mechanic and he said your best bet is just remove it cos they don't do anything really their just fitted to cars to tidy the back end on assembly line it won't affect the performance of the car or do any damage not having it . Should I try and fix it, replace with another one , or just don't bother?

over sized washers an some new nuts will fix it, not sure I would bother replacing it, if its fixable do it, if not rip it off. unless its the one protecting the fuel tank, or the mid centre ones, id probably keep those

Cheers mate it's rusted to feck . And it's the one at very back of car

Cut an old drinks can to cover the corroded area and use it like a washer to hold the shield in place, the heat shield is normally aluminium which oxidizes and rots from the reaction with road salt and the metal 'fixings'.

I was gonna see how much a replacement will cost cos like I said in previous it's in really bad shape

given that manufacturers like to scrimp on every penny if it didnt have a use they would save a fortune by not fitting it if its fitted its usually for a reason scrap yards are full of them so picking one up cheap shouldnt be an issue

its definitely there for a reason, but I reckon that the impact is questionable, especially on the rear most section. its not covering anything so theres only one reason its should remain on, to keep heat out of the cabin. its not likely to get hot enough to cause any bother back there.

if it were on or around the tank, engine bay or even the centre sections id probably be a little more concerned about the long term effects of taking it off, even seemingly unrelated things like knock on effects of exposing the handbrake lines.

first choice in any case is to fix it tho, as author said, they did put it on for a reason

It's there to reflect the heat AWAY from the underside of the car. You can buy a completely new set which is around £70+ !!

If you really want to save it and dont want to faff around with making washers or perhaps the studs are missing or whatever then get some polyurethane sealant such as tigerseal and stick it back on. Ive done a few that way now including my own car and they aint going anywhere lol.