I've managed to remove the heatshields, managed to not mangle them too much.

I'm thinking of wrapping the manifolds in exhaust wrap and calling it a day..

Seems easier than trying to cram the stupid shields and their 400 or so little bolts that hold them on.

Thoughts??

If you got them off without too much mangling, I would reinstall them using anti-seize on the bolts. I think if they had used anti-seize from the factory they wouldn’t be such a problem to remove now.

No idea why they felt the need to use as many bolts as they did. When I put mine pack one I just put a couple of bolts either side at the downpipe end and one at the front to stop then flapping around. Drilled out the remains of the captive nuts and used small stainless nuts and bolts.

Mine got one "flapping about" as I can't make the forward bolt engage. Does not rattle, so I leave it as is, been already like 5k km.
If you can, wrap them.