What is the final word? I'm afraid that if i remove them, i will cause damage to the undercarriage of the car....however, i'm not sure exactly how they "protect" the undercarriage now anyway as they just get as hot as the exhaust does...so everything in that area must get extremely hot anyways....

Does anyone know if it is alright for prolonged use to just remove them completely???

 

If you are refering to the heat shields around the cat and the resonator on a stock system, I think it might be OK. I had the rattle from the cat shield. A Honda specialty shop I went to for something else took off the shield for me when I mentioned the rattle. BTW, they're not hacks. They do very good work. Their only caution was "Don't park over tall dry grass". I put a worm gear hose clamp over the shield on my resonator to keep it quiet. So far it's working. I don't know if I'll tear it off when it gets too bad. So far no damage from the naked cat, and it's been about 2 years.

 

yeah, the ones further down near the gas tank i am skeptical to remove!

 

Dont removed them. There is no benefit and an engineer thought it necessary to add, and not for you to just go remove it.

 

Right. The body mounted shields should stay. The shields on the pipe that get loose and buzz are the ones that are subject to removal if clamping doesn't silence them. They'll fall off on their own eventually anyway. Just beware of the possible consequences.