Has anyone added a shield over the cat to prevent theft?

:
'14 GT traded for '20 Sig
I had my catalytic converter spray-painted earlier today by the St. Paul Police (thank you!) to help deter theft. The officer recommended I add an aftermarket (or dealer-added) shield to take it up a notch. Advice?
 
This thread might be of some use:

Also...
 
I had my cc spray-painted earlier today by the St. Paul Police (thank you!) to help deter theft. The officer recommended I add an aftermarket (or dealer-added) shield to take it up a notch. Advice?

It's definitely a good idea if the car will be parked outside. The threads posted by @CX5_Driver above show some good deterrents. A muffler shop could probably weld up a cage for you using some steel rebar. It's much harder to cut through.
 
I give up, how does a spray painted cat help prevent theft?
 
I give up, how does a spray painted cat help prevent theft?

The colored paint is an obstacle for an easy sale. Sure a bit of paint thinner and it is gone, but it is still an obstacle. Plus if you are carrying around a brightly spray painted catalytic convertor under your arm it tends to garner attention.

Honestly not much of a deterrent and more of a community outreach program for the local police department. The police department does this easy and inexpensive thing, and the community can perhaps build a better dialog with those who work in the community.
 
Doesn't the cat converter get really hot during operation? I thought it gets even hotter than the rest of the exhaust because of its function.

It might need some really good high temperature paint, or engrave it instead.
 
Thanks to all who replied (I did try a search but didn't find the threads Driver posted). The cop who got under my 2020 yesterday to spray it (bless him, it was 95 degrees out) said my cat was very easy to get to and cut out compared to most cars, and they paint hundreds during these programs every few months (they also do VIN etching, and/or put theft-resistant torx bolts in place of existing license plates bolts, all for free). He said it would take a thief about 90 seconds to get mine. (There were MANY Priuses is line for this!)

I was looking to see if anyone's gone through adding protection, what it costs, whether there are any aftermarket items out there that fit our CX-5s, who you used, etc. I kind of doubt the spray paint thing is anything more than a minor deterrent.
 
I don't bother because there are virtually no CC thefts in my area or at the stores I go to. Plus the value of a Mazda CC is relatively low compared to a Prius. Thieves probably drive around looking for Prius and know exactly how to get the CC off that particular car.
 
I've heard those shields help. They make it much more difficult to get the CAT out.

I know Priuses (that's the plural for Prius, right?) are a big target because they have more of the precious metal.

On my neighborhood app, I rarely see reports of SUV's being hit, when they would be the easiest to get to. Almost all are Prius or other hybrids.

The paint may make the thief think twice about cutting it off, but doesn't always stop them.

Besides, I think the places buying the cats aren't really worried about some paint....especially if someone is showing up with a stack of cat converters.
 
I wonder what they paint on the cat? A number or a warning?

It should be easy to do. If it helps I might want to find out more.



"Nick Young, a Latin and classical language studies instructor at the University of Detroit Mercy, told the Detroit Free Press that the plural of “Prius” is actually “Priora” or “Priores.” What’s the difference? Like many languages, Latin assigns gender to nouns. “Priores” is the feminine plural, while “Priora” would be the neuter plural form.

Ben Zimmer, a columnist for The New York Times, counters that either “Priora” or “Prii” are correct answers, but he told the Free Press that adding Latin plurals to “Prius” seems a bit forced. “We’re not speaking Latin. We might as well form the word the way English plurals are formed,” Zimmer said."
 
License plate etching is a better deterrent overall, but may not be as easily visible to the thief, so they may steal the cat, then just abandon it after discovering that it has been etched (and the owner still has to deal with replacing the cat). The paint is likely a bright fluorescent colour that shows that something has been done as a preventative theft measure, so it may be enough to cause a thief to think twice.
 
The paint is likely a bright fluorescent colour that shows that something has been done as a preventative theft measure, so it may be enough to cause a thief to think twice.
Maybe they use some kind of stencil or something with a warning?
 
The Mazda sits indoors at night so I don't worry about it, but my Honda sits out in the driveway so I made a shield out of some scrap material I had laying around. I didn't want to go the whole nine yards with rebar welded to the exhaust or anything permanent which could make maintenance more difficult. This is just bolted on and can be removed in a few minutes. A sawzall would go through it pretty quick, but it'll still take time and make a heck of a lot of noise before they can even begin to see where to start cutting the exhaust. The car is parked 10 feet from my front door so I only need a minute to wake up and grab my favorite theft deterrent device from the nightstand. It won't prevent theft, but might convince someone to look for easier/quicker opportunities elsewhere.

IMG-1820.jpg
 
Impressive looking. Did you take any pics of the shield before installing it?

I can imagine someone rolling underneath and giving up immediately.
 
No, never thought to take any pics prior to install. Not much planning was involved, this was one of those things where I was just curious to see if I could come up with something effective that didn't cost anything to make.
 
I asked the officer (jokingly) to paint "GO AWAY!" or "BIG DOG BEHIND YOU!" on my cat...he said they don't paint any words, just put a bunch of lines on there in a loud color, with heat-resistant paint. Anyone can grab a can at Home Depot and do this themselves. It took him 30 seconds.

(I like "Prii" as a plural for Prius -- I owned 4-5 of them over the years, because I could buy one, at the same time get on the waitlist again; then, 8-12 months later when it came in, they'd give me every nickel I'd paid, on the trade. That lasted for awhile. I loved those Prii. Also had a couple Hybrid Camrys, same deal but didn't last as long.)
 
Motorweek had this guy on TV that recommended adding a cluster of u-bolt muffler clamps on all of the open area where the cat could be cut out.

I haven't looked under there to see how that would work on the CX5, but the clamps don't cost much and they could deter a theft.
 
Motorweek had this guy on TV that recommended adding a cluster of u-bolt muffler clamps on all of the open area where the cat could be cut out.

I haven't looked under there to see how that would work on the CX5, but the clamps don't cost much and they could deter a theft.
+1 Saw that today on Motorweek. Sounds like a much less expensive option than many. I'm going to talk to my local shop about doing that for me.
 
Back