So is the gen 3 a big target for cat theft? I normally garage mine but sometimes I spend the night where is not secured.
You have a bigger threat than I do. If my car gets catnapped? It's $125. Yours would be a "little" more expensive, even without the Haz-mat teams cleaning up the coolant and filing the environmental impact statements. G3s are not as large a target as G2s were, but let's just say that if you live in a state that has a little different views on property crime that other states have, then your car might be a little bit larger target. See if you can find a shop that will weld some square stock onto the likely cut points in your exhaust. Even rebar would be better than the cat shields, and you could use both for about the same $$, even if your local muffler shop overcharges you for an hour's worth of labor and $30 worth of metal. Good Luck!
"Well, you just have to ask yourself one question, do you feel lucky today?" I prefer to play it safe and not risk having to pay the deductible on our comprehensive insurance. And deal with the time lost in the shop, etc. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
are you allowed to install aftermarket cats where you live? They are priced similarly to a shield. Without the shield you might never have to spend that money. I personally have a shield in order to hopefully deter anyone and avoid the hassle. I guess it's more of a time vs money situation. (assuming you can install aftermarket cats)
Agreeing with above posters. I got one for my 2016 even though Gen4 hasn’t become a target yet. I sleep better at night now. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
I prefer a little over 1/2 oz......or 230gr delivered as a single dose or divided between two 115gr doses.
Agreed I will look into it. Although the gen4 I believe the cat is part of exhaust manifold and they would need to remove wiper assembly and then remove the exhaust manifold its like a 1 hour job.
This is one of those things that everyone makes their own decision on. This type of theft has become hot news. But my calculation of (number of Prius) / (number of thefts) yields such a low chance that I'm willing to take the risk, especially compared to the problems some have had with their Cat shields (noise/rattles).
What I did on my Gen 2 the person I bought my '09 from someone had tried to cut the converter out underneath the car I bought the car from the dude everything intact I took the car to my friend who runs a welding shop a muffler shop and they do radiator repairs I had him lift the car up showed him the catalytic converter and then that silencer that's just below the catalytic converter I had him cut that out and put a pipe that goes from the back of the catalytic converter to the flange where it connects to the rear pipe that goes to the muffler when he made the weld back to the middle pipe after he made the well I told him to put some pins on it which means to take wire out of the wire feed welder and stick them on the well that he just made so they're sticking up like pins A lot of these guys when they go to steal these converters they reach under the car and they feel the pipe to see if there's been any exhaust work done when he feels my pipe and runs up to that joint it's going to rip his hands up might cause him to yell it'll certainly cause him to leave this '09 alone that cost me $40 car sounds better too I'm certainly not paying $160 for a metal plate to put over my catalytic converter with special tool screws not this guy SM-A715F ?
In my state that silencer missing does not cause it a fail on any inspection we don't have a missions here but we have visuals and safety and everything is supposed to look like it's there some people remove their catalytic converters off other cars and break out the brick inside of it and knock all that stuff out and put the pipe back up so the converter looks like it's there the stuff is plugged up to it but the converter is gutted folks have been doing this to cars since like the '80s SM-A715F ?
Blind leading the blind here LoL. I think there are two. Pic attached is the lower one on Gen4 that thieves can access.
I have security cameras everywhere, and still have cat plates on everything. Even the one I just sold I put a plate on because I didn't want to hear the complaints from the friend who bought it when they steal it. Idiots in my town are even stealing after-market cats that nobody is going to pay them for and cutting the o2 sensors when they do the deed. I can shoot em but the legal defense expense is much more than the plate off Ebay.
Here’s a new product Deterrence and alarm Called a CatStrap, the barrier protects a car's catalytic converter. It's lined with six, airplane-grade steel cables and a motion sensor that sets off a 130-decibel alarm. New device protects cars from catalytic converter thieves | kare11.com
