In my experience heat shields are a minor PITA. As they rust, the fasteners no longer hold them on....so I have to find MacGyverish ways of securing them.

On the 98 E300, with the recent muffler replacement the heat shield that was above it is now completely gone. Obviously MB engineers had it there for a reason. But, as a practical matter, how important is it to replace that heat shield?

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

You're going to notice your trunk in that area getting very warm on long highway drives.

That's about it.

I haven't had a shield there for the two years I've owned this stupid car and for what it's worth, can't be bothered to find one.

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Allen Kroliczek
Oak Grove Autosport | Oak Grove Autosport
01 G500, 82 300TD, quite a few more.....

It depends on the car, some are very close to gas tanks and others are more to keep heat transfer into the floor down.

I seem to remember a USA made car that used corrugated metal clamped to the muffler. Dig through the Walker / Maremont / AP catalog, it might even be a universal part.

For heat shields that are falling off the exhaust, large diameter hose clamps work just fine. Home centers generally stock them in the HVAC duct work section. You can also screw 2 of the same clamps together if all you have are regular sized ones.