Interesting finding when changing heat shield.

I have a third generation Mazda 3. I noticed that occasionally it would leave rust spots on the driveway after the rain. I discovered the issue: there's a heat shield protecting the evap canister from the exhaust, and it was badly corroded.

It's worth noting that I get my car oil sprayed every year. I don't like polluting the environment with the drips from it, but I just can't afford to let a car rot away. I'm not sure if they avoid spraying the heat shield because it's right above the exhaust, or if the oil just evaporates from it quickly, but it didn't protect that particular part.

When changing it, I found that what I thought was the heat shield was just fabric. The heat shield is steel, but has a fabric layer on the evap side, some sort of heat resistant fibre. I hope it's not asbestos, it's black, but bright yellow on the inside. All the asbestos I've ever seen has been whitish.

Anyway, the point is that the steel portion of the heat shield had almost completely disappeared, there were a few fragments left around the mounting bolts, but that's it. I found it fascinating and thought I'd share.