# Heat shield on my '00 Ford Focus

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/heat-shield-on-my-00-ford-focus/82031>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** focus, ford\
**Created:** [November 1, 2013, 8:49am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/heat-shield-on-my-00-ford-focus/82031 "2013-11-01T08:49:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![LJ21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@LJ21](https://community.cartalk.com/u/LJ21)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 8:49am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/heat-shield-on-my-00-ford-focus/82031/1 "2013-11-01T08:49:18Z")

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My heat shield was loose and my dealer said it should be fine, but then it stormed and driving home I ran over a branch and when I got home I noticed the heat shield was ripped and dragging on the ground. It is pretty torn up and I’m thinking of just taking it off. Am I allowed to take it off? If so how should I go about taking it off?

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**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 8:54am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/heat-shield-on-my-00-ford-focus/82031/2 "2013-11-01T08:54:47Z")

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The heat shield is probably spot welded onto the exhaust system.

If you wiggle it back and forth, at some point the heat sheild will break off.

Tester