Ford Focus ST170

Securing the CAT heatshield - the cheap method

Rattle, rattle. What's that? Oh, it's that darn CAT heatshield rattling when you're around the 2,000rpm mark. This usually happens when the nuts around the hole has rusted away and came loose. Some say it's better to remove the heatshield, but the heatshield job is to stop the heat spreading around. So it's better to leave it on.

Want it fixed? Take it to the Ford garage and they will either charge you for the whole new CAT system at hundreds of pounds. Or they will replace the CAT heatshield using FINIS 4708066 and it costs around £30.

So if you want to fix it for very cheap price to save costs like me, the answer is... Stainless steel tie wrap! I got mine from eBay. It looks something like this below...

Before putting the tie wrap on, that's what it used to look like. At 2,000rpm or so, the CAT bit vibrates and the heatshield starts to rattle against the CAT. And that's where you get the noise from.

Now with the cable tie fitted

I fold the remaining strip and then cut it off

That's all. The rattle noise stopped. All for just £2 or so for 5 strips of stainless steel tie wraps from eBay! Now, that was easy, eh?