I am getting coated hooker shortie's with a catco cat and wanted to know if I should get better bolts and gaskets than what comes in the kit. I do not drive my car year round, if that makes a difference. I thought about dead-soft gaskets and locking bolts.

 

The heads-to-header-flange gasket that came with the 2055's is one of my two nits against them. The openings are smaller than the ports, and they look like cheap cardboard. I wrote Hooker about the small openings, their reply was something to the effect, "The part that sticks into the port will burn out pretty soon, so it isn't a problem." That's confidence-inspiring, header gaskets that burn quickly.

World recommended Fel-Pro 1404 gaskets with their heads, so that's what I got.

I didn't have any issues with the supplied bolts.

 

I got percy's dead soft aluminum gaskets and stage 8 locking header bolts for mine. The gaskets that come with it are crap. The bolts would probably be fine, but I did it just to be on the safe side. Once I get them in, I don't want to have to take them out again to replace a gasket due to a bolt that worked loose. The gaskets were ~$30, and bolts were ~$30 also from summit.