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My heat shield along the middle of my car has been a problem since i have had it. It has ALWAYS annoyingly buzzed ar about 3-4000 rpm and after. It had been made 'better' by the dealer but its never gone. Its almost like its hittings its natural resonant frequency, and its very annoying in the car. makes it sound 'rough'.

WHat can he done about this? Is it possible to compleley replace this?

It there a matting between the metal and the chassis to 'dampen' the metal so it doesnt buzz? maybe it was left out at the factory? lol

WHat could be making by car vibrate more than normal? engine imbalance somewhere? had 2 services and nothing major has ever been found

any ideas?

Jamie

Hmm i get exactly the same problem mate.

never caused me any worries though, my car seems to behave correctly.

If it is just the resonate frequency of the car, you wont have to worry really, it will only last for a few mph.

Annoying to you it might seem, but ive actually come to like the sound haha, you get that space age feel

oooooooooooooooooooohâ„¢

haha

Cal

Hallo everyone.I'm new to this forum but i've been reading most of the Polo forums on the net.I've done several modifications to my Polo Gti many of which i will be sharing with u guys in the days to come.

Concerning the heat shield problem it has happened to me also.I really believe its a common Polo problem since many other Gti owners i've talked to also have encountered it!!!It started suddenly one day and for a VERY long period of time i couldn't figure out where it was coming from.The TYPICAL rpm range is from 2800 to 3000 rpm but its not constant.There are days i can hear it and days i cant.Maybe it also has smth to do with the resonating frequency of the engine, since im sure all of u also have noticed the engine sound changes from day to day (related to performance??).I've also noticed its really loud when the car (and the heat shield) are cold but tends to decrease later one.The worst part is that the console makes a "loudspeaker" effectsince its located above the shield, bringing the noise into the cabin.

So anyway, after a long period of tests i pinpointed the problem to the CATALYST heat shield (there are 3 under the Polo).At the time the only thing that came upto my mind was to try to damped it.So heres what i did.I went to a hardware store and bought a bunch of rubber pads, with a small hole in the center.I then inserted them BETWEEN the chasis and the heat shield at the points where they connect.It was an instant relief!!!For a long period of time there was no noise (oh well sometimes but really reduced).I decided to keep it like that until i could replace the heat shield which was causing the problem.

It all went well till i decided to put in the new heat shield, cause the part only costs 25 Euro but the procedure costed me 100 !!! And thats because the catalyst had to be removed and repositioned.. .Anyway, as the guy that fitted it discovered, the heat shield was almost impossible to remove due to the fact that the rubber thingys had melted "bonding" it to the chasis .When he finally did, he replaced the shield and i was on my way...Oh well.A couple of km later.... OMFG...The sound was BACK!!!And now it was that old good grinding i had from the beginning The effect of the rubber pads was no longer there and the new heat shield was doing its job GRINDING my head as the old one did Damn.....So now what.....

And this is where i am now....Back to the beginning...But with a new shinny heat shield that costed me a f.... 120 Euros
I guess VW doesnt give a s.... about this problem, since this was supposed to be a NEW shield with no resonating properties....
Oh well...I guess i have to look into finding NON MELTING RUBBER PADS for my next trick....

Well i am trying some GLass rope at the moment. Its heat resistant. Its like an exhaust wrap. Gonna finish it off over the weekend ill let you know if its made a diffrence

Well put on the glass rope/ tape stuff on front two mounting points near cat and middle two between where it would vibrate onto the chassis. Also but a long strip all the way around the middle where to two heat shields rest over/join each other.

The glass tape i cut to size then painted 'emultion' over the ends and left to dry so that the tape doesnt 'fray' which it does/easily. Normal emultion is resistant to heat so it does the job.


Initial impressions are good though i cant road test yet. Waiting for a replacement clip which i snapped.

Well thats nice!!!Glad i could help!!Although that won't be the end of the problem, it should keep it down a little...Keep us posted!!!