Muffler Heat Shield

[Altair 4]

The heat shield over the muffler on our 2018 Rogue has corroded loose. The mount studs look pretty rusty and there's not a lot of room to work. In order to remove the loose part, I had to remove the bike rack receiver and that was a more difficult than I anticipated due to one of five bolts being a bit crusty. I found the heat shield online for around $120 total.

So my questions:
1) how critical is that muffler heat shield? Do I actually need to replace it?
2) I could see how, based on their condition, the possibility of removal problems like having one or more shear. I'd be working with hand tools, not impact powered. Anyone have any luck in with them?

Thanks.

[VStar650CL]

The nuts will usually let go cleanly if you give them a couple days of soak with PB Blaster. The old shields can generally be salvaged by using fender washers, we rarely replace them unless they're cracked or bent-up beyond usefulness. The one at the extreme rear above the muffler only really does anything when you're stuck in traffic or idling for prolonged periods, so it's optional if you don't do much of that. The one forward of that protects the gas tank and floor from the rear cat, so that one is necessary.

[Altair 4]

Yeah, I'm dealing with the extreme rear shield, directly over the muffler which makes the working space tight. I'm gong to try and see if I can get the nuts loose. If that works (I'm well acquainted with PB Blaster and Deep Creep), I'll get the shield back in place. Otherwise, we'll just move on. Thanks for your response!

[VStar650CL]

[Altair 4]

Quick update - I soaked the studs for several days, applying PB Blaster. Ultimately, I was able to remove one of the rear-most nuts. I sheared another of the rear pair and gave up on the forward pair. A closer look at the threads revealed just too much rust. The threads were essentially replaced by a build up of rust. I recycled the heat shield and reinstalled the hitch receiver and called it a day. The upside of the entire episode was that it gave me a chance to use some emery cloth on the receiver to clean up some minor rust spots and spray the whole unit with some Rust-oleum black satin spray. It looks brand new.

[V6er]

huh... same thing noticed recently on our T32... gonna try the same recipe