First of all, the heat shield on my sr5 rattles like mad... and I find it very annoying. Can I take it off?

Second, I want to look into getting an exhaust for my car. Nothing too expensive, but anything besides the dinky stock one. Any advice?

yeah, my heat shield rattled as well so i just took it off, i was going to put a head on it anyways so it didn't matter. i don't know too much about exhausts, but if you find something that works good without sounding like a ricer, let me know