Muffler Heat Shield

[KidLife]

Hello everyone,

I'm hoping this is an easy question that someone more experienced can help me with. Several days ago, I started getting a rattling sound from the back of my car. Well, I traced it to the heat shield that sits above my muffler. The shield is completley rusted out, and one section of the shield that bolted to the car had rusted through and was hanging loose, creating the rattle. I have a 95 escort wagon, and after calling every parts shop in town, I was unable to find a new heat shield. I am assuming that any junkyard car would probably be rusted out also. Sooo... my question is, is there any other way of protecting my car from the muffler heat? I saw that they sell spray-on heat shielding material, but I question if that is an equivalent solution, let alone safe. Any advice would be great.