Heat Shields- Pros and Cons

[SpadedOne]

As most are, my head shields on my exhaust are rusty. Just had some of the exhaust replaced and I put in some new O2 sensors. Since then, the exhaust has started to rattle. Sounds awful!!!!!!!!!

I want to cut them all off (bolts rusted bad). But, I got to thinking about it, and not sure if I should.

My car is all stock, tranny and all. It has 111,XXX miles on it. Tranny does occasionally slip between 2nd and 3rd only(plan on adjusting brake band soon). So, it could be on it's way out. But no other signs of failure yet. Plan on getting 4.44's in about a year or so.

Here is my dilema, if I cut off the heat shields there will be more heat given off of the exhaust. Could the extra temps given from that heat up the tranny more and end up causing more problems with the tranny? Keep in mind, I'm in Northern Iowa. Temps don't get too high here.

Just looking for some opinions, but probably going to do it anyways because I can't stand the rattling!