Heat rises. Always has, always will. It’s one of those physics things that’s indisputable and constant in the universe. It’s also why the heat from the exhaust system on a car or truck will always radiate upward. As that heat goes up, it hits the floorboard, then is transferred to the interior, which increases the amount of heat that the air conditioning system (if the vehicle has A/C) has to deal with – not to mention it’s felt by the feet, legs and even rearend of passengers.

Heatshield Products has multiple products that can reduce this heat, including our Heatshield Armor™ exhaust insulation. We know that some people don’t want to put anything on their exhaust pipe and that’s OK, because our HP Sticky Shield™ heat-reflecting material on the underside of the vehicle can deflect up to 90 percent of the heat away from the floor (with just an inch of airspace). It can also be combined with a layer of our HP Stealth Shield™ which stops up to 80 percent of heat trying to come through the floor. HP Stealth Shield is only 1/8 inch thick, so it fits easily under the floor covering without affecting its fitment.

We recognize that some people may be naturally skeptical about claims like ours. Sounds too good to be true, or maybe they’ve bought a knock-off product and it’s burned them and their wallet (pun intended). It’s a big reason why we like to do real demonstrations of how our products work to prove to you their effectiveness. That’s why we demonstrated how these products stopped heat from entering the interior of our test rig on our YouTube channel. You can also follow these photos to see what we did.

We set up a simulation using a section of exhaust pipe, a propane torch and a piece of sheet steel with thickness that’s equivalent to a floorboard with floor material. We placed it at the same typical distance as the exhaust pipe would be on a vehicle, and fired up the torch. We then measured the heat of the floor section. It was 258 degrees F.

Next, we placed HP Stealth Shield™ on top of the floor section. Right off the bat, we could put our bare hands on the HP Stealth Shield without getting burned or singed. A temperature probe read 126.3 degrees F, with the HP Stealth Shield blocking 131.7 degrees of heat. HP Stealth Shield can withstand up to 1,800 degrees F of continuous heat before it will start to degrade.

We let the test rig completely cool, then installed HP Sticky Shield™ on the section facing the exhaust pipe. We fired up the torch and waited 5 minutes to let things get nice and hot before taking measurements. The floor section had only three-quarter inch of air gap between it and the exhaust pipe.

After waiting 5 minutes, we checked the direct-contact heat probe and measured 137 degrees F with just the HP Sticky Shield in place. This meant it was stopping 121 degrees of heat from going into the floor.

We again set the HP Stealth Shield in place with our bare hands. After making sure the heat probe had fully cooled, we took a reading. We measured 96.1 degrees F from the HP Stealth Shield, translating to 161.9 degrees F of heat being blocked from going through the floor and into the interior.

So much heat was being blocked that Shane, our demonstrator and resident dance expert, could lay his face on the HP Stealth Shield. That effectiveness would further increase with more air space between the floor and the exhaust pipe, and/or installing some of our Heatshield Armor™ material on the exhaust pipe to drastically reduce the amount of heat the exhaust pipe radiated toward the floor.