I think the Zeds will be ok...... its quite difficult to slide under and get the Cats off with out jacking the car up I bet 4x4's and higher cars are more of a target.
You can always have SLX which doesnt have the finned pads IIRC
To be fair I've always wanted XTR but no with the gap so close to XT (especially now I think they are doing 2x10 XT) I'm not sure I could justify it. Can still dream though
You could always buy my bike and strip it down