Cat and Exhaust

So I am looking to replace my exhaust and cat. I have a couple of questions.

I am not sure if the Stainless is worth the extra money. I do live in WI and we have a lot of salt in the winter. I have owned stainless Borla exhausts in the past without any problems at all, however I am just wondering how long the aluminized steel exhausts last? I would rather save $300 but if I am going to have to replace it in 2 years then I am better off with stainless.

I am debating between a magnaflow stainless, Borla stainless, or the Flowmaster 50 aluminum from Rustys. I see also Gibson but I can't find anything on those exhausts good or bad, anyone have experience with these quality, sound, hp gain??

Also I am going to replace the Cat. Everyone is talking about those magnaflow cats, however those are not high flow. They are just made to replace the factory one to OEM specs. Rusty's has the Metal Cat high flow cat which is $50 more than a magnaflow. Anyone have any experience with the Metal Cat? I see it is great for Turbo's but our I6's aren't pushing that huge of CFM's so is it worth getting a high flow cat? Is there that much gain going to a high flow or no cat at all. I am not going to gut mine factory one out, no offense.

Also where I live, we don't have emission testing so that isn't an issue. So should I just delete the cat all together?

Thanks for any advice, help, or info.

klennop said:

So I am looking to replace my exhaust and cat. I have a couple of questions.

I am not sure if the Stainless is worth the extra money. I do live in WI and we have a lot of salt in the winter. I have owned stainless Borla exhausts in the past without any problems at all, however I am just wondering how long the aluminized steel exhausts last? I would rather save $300 but if I am going to have to replace it in 2 years then I am better off with stainless.

I am debating between a magnaflow stainless, Borla stainless, or the Flowmaster 50 aluminum from Rustys. I see also Gibson but I can't find anything on those exhausts good or bad, anyone have experience with these quality, sound, hp gain??

Also I am going to replace the Cat. Everyone is talking about those magnaflow cats, however those are not high flow. They are just made to replace the factory one to OEM specs. Rusty's has the Metal Cat high flow cat which is $50 more than a magnaflow. Anyone have any experience with the Metal Cat? I see it is great for Turbo's but our I6's aren't pushing that huge of CFM's so is it worth getting a high flow cat? Is there that much gain going to a high flow or no cat at all. I am not going to gut mine factory one out, no offense.

Also where I live, we don't have emission testing so that isn't an issue. So should I just delete the cat all together?

Thanks for any advice, help, or info.

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my opinion on highflow versus oem cat is not a huge difference at all. If money is a concern a "high flow cat" is not a good place to spend money. If you were racing it cant hurt, i doubt you can even tell the difference in a lab environment. You have to think of the design of the cat its a open honey comb with platinum dust on it that gets super hot and burns off gas and gasses. Its pretty dang "high flow" as a screen can get. How does one egineer a high flow screen. Not a big deal. Definately not worth a perforamance product price premium. A universal catco one from summit or a magnaflow would be a great value.

I have borla header to maganaflow cat, to the rustys cat back kit in 2 1/2 pipes flavor. Mine i put on in 2002 or early 2003 at the latest. Surface rusty but thats all. Should last me a good 3-4 years pretty easy i figure.

Stainless is nice but if you smash it wheeling youll be pissed. Virtually no one who buys your jeep used is gonna care you have a stainless exhaust, so keep it in mind, if your gonna drive your jeep to you wreck it, it gets stolen, or it rusts into oblivion it might be a good investment/value. Especially if its a DD jeep and not a wheeler.

Not running a cat is no noticable performance gain, and for the $50 cost of a basic one do the environment and the motorsports community a favor and run one. I had my set up with out a cat for a few months, putting in the magnaflow if felt no seat of the pants difference what so ever, or sound differnce. Get a cat dont be a cheap skate.