Burning rubber smell and hole in firewall heat shield

[marlin29311]

So driving up to Vermont the other day I started to smell a strong burning rubber odor when I stopped my car to get gas or park at our house when the trip was done. I looked around to make sure there wasn't a plastic bag or anything stuck to the exhaust system and saw nothing. Through my inspection though, I noticed a hole probably 3-4 inches in diameter in the heat shielding attached to the firewall behind the engine... Has anyone ever seen anything like that? Any other thoughts on the rubber smell? I have an 08 G35x with about 87k miles.

[joe603]

First I've heard of this...anything near the firewall that could burn through? any chard wires?