ok so im drivin today and all teh sudden i hear something like pop and then heard something on teh bottom of my car dragging. i pull over and look under and see its my heat shield. i pulled it off and now its sittin in my garage. is the heatshield really important? like does it need to be fixed right away or can i go without it for a bit?

 

The exhaust manifold heat shield? Never had one myself, so uh...I (could be wrong) am gonna say it's no problem.

 

Or the catalytic converter heat shield? If that one, then it's only important if you park in areas with high grass or dead leaves or litter... both could be caught on fire from the heat of the exhaust.

 

I'm guessing he means the catalytic converter heat shield. I haven't had that on my car for 3+ years and had no problem there. But like DelSolSIinMD said, be careful if you got dead leaves, litter, etc. The last thing you want to do is start a fire.

 

its the cat heatshield. in teh fall theres a lot of leaves and stuff but its not like i park in a pile of them though... other than that i guess it should be alright eh? it basically rusted off, should i bother taking off the bolts or excess metal that held it up or just **** it?

 

Well that heat shield tradtionally is two pieces that act like a shell around your cat. You never metioned that year model your car is, but if it has an ODB2 system, you'll prolly have to unscrew the O2 sensor to get it off. As I recall, there shouldn't be much more than the two metal sides of the shield, and the few bolts that hold them togther. I'd say remove it all. Never leave a job half done, even if it wasn't intentional.