Millercat Catalytic Shield Aluminum or Stainless Steel?

Aside from steel being harder to cut through does one handle heat better? I’m going to guess aluminum is plenty secure, am I wrong? Aluminum is cheaper and lighter to take on and off. How badly does stainless steel rust? Any other pros and cons?

 

Aluminum absorbs heat better than steel. Stainless will only rust if it has carbon in it, 316ss food grade won't rust.

 

Mine is aluminum and takes the heat just fine:

 

Top quality stainless will rust to a minor degree - after about 75 years exposure to atmospheric moisture. Not something to be concerned about.
I'd be more concerned about the captured heat radiating upward into the cabin.

 

I have aluminum on mine. It fits great and was $100 less expensive than the steel.

 

I would prefer aluminum.

 

I just bought the aluminum one and will install it tomorrow. I hope it dissipates heat really well.

 

I went with the aluminum one on mine.

 

I ended up ordering stainless steel. Figured maximum security would give me complete peace of mind. Aluminum is properly plenty secure too.

 

Per Millercat,

https://catshield.com/blogs/news/304-stainless-vs-aluminum
304 Stainless vs Aluminum
February 22, 2021
Thieves have become bolder and more willing to do whatever it takes to steal your catalytic converter. While no solution is 100% guaranteed to stop converter theft, that doesn't stop us from improving our products to offer you the best protection.


There are several reasons why we came out with a stainless steel line. The main reason is that 304 stainless will offer the best level of protection against thieves and galvanic corrosion.

Whether you choose a stainless steel or aluminum shield, you will not need to worry about overheating. Our products are tested to ensure there are no adverse impact to your converters.

*Subscribe in the footer below and be the first to know about upcoming stainless steel products!

Here are a few facts about stainless steel and aluminum. Check out our stainless steel line here.

- Strength, density, weight. Stainless steel has about twice the tensile strength of aluminum, making it harder to cut, bend, and warp. It is about 2.5 timesmore dense than aluminum and about three times as heavy. Our stainless shields are about twice as heavy as our aluminum ones depending on the application (4lbs vs 2lbs).

- Corrosion. While both stainless steel and aluminum have anti-corrosive properties, we use zinc-coated rivet nuts to protect against galvanic corrosion. Whenever there is a drilled hole in the steel frame of the vehicle, the frame looses its protective coating and can accelerate corrosion. Whenever possible, we design our shields without drilled holes, but whenever our products need a drilled hole, we protect the vehicle with our zinc-coated rivet nuts.

- Thermal properties. In temperatures of excess of 400 degrees, aluminum becomes very soft. If you encase a converter in aluminum, you will easily reach these temperatures. Our aluminum designs ensure the shields are adequately ventilated and tested to make sure they do not cause excessive build up of heat.

- Thermal conductivity. Aluminum has a better thermal conductivity than steel. This means that aluminum will heat up quicker than steel. However, neither materials will impact the temperatures around the converter due to our heat ventilation features.

 

Installed the aluminum Miller Cat just now . Actually my Son John did,

Living in California it's an epidemic of crime here.

 

This is a fast growing crime everywhere now.

 

Bummer

 

Just installed an aluminum Miller Cat shield today. Pretty easy install without having to lift the truck. The shield is a bit flexy--would purchase the stainless steel if I could do it again. Just hoping it's enough of a deterrent; weekly crime summary in my neighborhood shows 2 cat thefts last week and 3 from the week before.

 

Definitely considering this for my next mod/improvement, I watched some YouTube video on Millercat , they go to the extent of providing zinc coated hardware to prevent rust where the dissimilar metals make contact at the fastening points. That is important and well thought out especially folks that live in the salt belt.

 

Yeah, same. The aluminum was flexier than I would have expected.

 

Was in the market for cat shields and was having the same debate. I was leaning towards the stainless steel because correct me if I’m wrong but 14 gauge aluminum is only 0.06” thick which doesn’t seem all that thick to me. Anyone with the stainless know how thick the shield is?

I was also looking at the Talon Garage cat shields bc they are local and offers 0.25” thick aluminum.

 

I just installed a MillerCat stainless steel. Not sure of the thickness, but it does not seem flexy like the aluminum. If you do decide on MillerCat, try the coupon code “PROTECTMYTACO” to see if it still works. My feeling is any shield covering your Cats should make the bad people move to an easier target.

 

Just installed Miller Cat shield stainless on 2022 TRD OR OEM lift, it took about an hour. Pipe fitter, but first time under a truck. I thought it would be more beefy, it’s maybe 1/8” thick, kinda flexy, but i have nothing to compare to. Haven’t driven it yet but looks likely that it could make some noise on rough roads. Truthfully I think could stick the blade of my sawzall into the vent and get through it side to side in a couple minutes. I guess it’s like locking your doors that any deterrent is better than none so they move in to the next one. I think I assumed, my bad, that it would’ve been as thick as the Talon Garage shield. Done again, I likely would’ve gone that route, looks beefier and solid piece rather than multiple.

 

Millercat was the only one I liked because of the way it mounts on the crossbar. It uses the hole that the middle transmission oem skid plate or pro skid plate don’t use. The other manufacturers use the same mounting holes as those.

and that’s why I think it’s the better cat shield.

Nothing is 100% so this is a deterrent that hopefully makes theives look elsewhere because cutting through these shield would make too much noise for too long.