Installed Cat Protector today

Glad you had a plan going into see them, most would just eat the cost

 

I put the same shield on our car as well, though I installed it myself. Definitely took a lot longer than 15 minutes lol.

Local news said 7 cat thefts occurred overnight in a municipal parking lot of government vehicles.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Or rather most on Prius Chat would use a jack and jack stands and not spend a penny on installation.

 

I will pass the message on the people who lives in apartments that you said so, especially the ones who were told to buy a 12v trickle charger and had no outlet to plug it in parking lot after buying

 

DIY people who love working on their own cars can't live in apartments because of draconian rules... As for the 12v, if you know how to loosen some bolts the battery can actually be taken out of the car and brought inside to charge. Of course that probably is really confusing for you to hear, so don't try to make sense of it, just keep trolling.

 

Any pro tips? Could you rate the difficulty?

 

Well, I had to buy a second set of jack stands, and a heavy duty rivet tool. Jack the front and rear lift points to my floor jacks maximum height, going front to rear, then repeat in increments so as not to put too much angle and side force on the stands.

Even then, I only had about 15 inches of clearance under the car. Not fun drilling the extra holes in the rails, and trying to muster enough leverage on the rivets tool handles to set the rivets.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd definitely ask my neighbor, who owns an auto repair shop, if I could use a lift at his business.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

A 3-ton floor jack with good lift, plus 6-ton safety stands, would help, get you more room. Work safe too: I prefer more solid safety stand loc’s than the skittish scissor jack loc’s. Also, like to have a largish, incompressible tree trunk section under there, when practical.

 

I see Cap City Muffler shield is currently $160 USD to my Canadian address, with FREE shipping. Anyone who’s used that: opinions, caveats? In particular how was the install if you DIY’d?

I’m still on the fence though, with our low-use garage-stored 2010. And the 5th gen may show up, some day. Maybe. And will I be interested lol.

 

Is the garage assessable to the home owners only?

 

Yup. And checked with ICBC (insurer): in the event of theft covered by comprehensive insurance, except for our $300 CDN deductible, and no rate increase.

Also, apparently no insurance discount for shield install. Think I’ll shelve it for now.

 

The Gen4 / Prime shield works great.

@The Critic installed a CCM shield at the same time on his Gen3 and found it rattled .

He switched it out to a Miller shield .

I told him to turn up the radio .

 

I installed a cat shield on my Prius v and eliminated the rattle by pulling down the center.

However, after about a year, I removed the shield and saw a minor 1/2 inch cavity in the shield from minor rubbing in the aluminum shield contacting the stainless steel catalytic converter.

I have totally eliminated the contact and now have at least 1/2 inch clearance by putting a few strategic bends in the shield and replacing it onto the car.

 

I installed the MillerCAT shield. Not my favorite thing I’ve ever done, but doable with 4 jack stands and 45 minutes or so.

Man, were my arms sore after that install. Drilling up into the frame while underneath the car was rough. An actual lift would’ve been great for this job! But hey, I never have to do it again.

 

My experience with self installation pretty much matches your description above.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Given the apparent hassle to install, the relatively low chance for theft, the potential for rattles , installation not influencing insurance rates, and the insurance coverage if there is a theft, I'm with Mendel Leisk. Of course, each person evaluates risk/reward individually and there is no "right" decision.

 

I prefer to install the cat shield deterrent, because the hassle of repairing and replacing the cat is much more than an easy cat shield installation.

Taking it down, bending it and replacing it took mo more than 20 minutes. It. however, could easily been done by the maker.

Then, a replacement might not be immediately available.

 

Yes the manufacturers are starting to address this... Meanwhile they recommend using a block of wood.