I am going to be getting the American Thunder series cat back system soon on my car. The cat on the car now is making rattling noises and needs to be replaced. I have been reading about hi flow cats and need some help and opinions on the different brands. Random Tech seems like the best because of the honeycomb design they use inside the cat, you can see right through it and still pass smog testing. I can't really find any info about catco and carsound cats, does anyone know what type of design they use inside them, is it the old style or this new honeycomb type? Are there any other hi flow, hi quality cats out there? Is this new honeycomb design that Random Tech uses really all that great, does it fall apart quicker than others, etc.? I want something that is not only hi flow but even more important than that is hi quality and has a long lasting life span. All opinions and experiences, etc. would be great. Thanks for the help.

 

The Catco is a honeycomb type cat. They are pretty much a direct fit and they are rated as high flow. The Random Technology one is basically the same. The catalyst material is the same so if you bottom out the car on a bump and the cat hits, it will most likely break the catalyst inside and then it will rattle.
These two are good choices for cat replacements, just my 2cents.

-Ozzy

 

Thanks for the info. I did not know the Catco was a honeycomb design also. I figured only the very high priced Random Tech cat was this design. I can't see paying $250 for the Random Tech cat. I want to stay around $150 tops if I can for a good cat. Anyone know what design the Carsound cat is? More opinions would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

I paid $70 Cnd. for my 2 1/4" generic honeycomb cats. They were no name but they look like the Catco ones. Car passed e test with mostly 0 readings. Nox was like 390 with a limit of 1100 something. I use 2 of these cats on my LG4 that ran 15.5@88mph with 3.73's. I have 2" true duals. Dont know if more expensive cats would improve it a lot, but it seems to work well with the cheap ones.

 

I have random tech and it works great... i have no numbers or anything, but its been on there with tes headers and an american thunder exhaust for over a year and no complaints. Car sounds awesome. i have read bad things about catco... thats why, at the time i went with a random tech, cause money wasn't much of an issue at the time, haha, unfortunatley that is no longer the case, so when i do an exhaust on the iroc, i think im gonna prolly buy a catco.

 

i have a catco on my car and it sounds great. it seems to me like it is a nice high quality cat, i dont really know why people seem to say bad things about them. i definitely recommend a catco since they cost less and seem to work just fine

 

Thanks for all of the help so far guys. Sounds like the Catco will do just fine. That's good news for me since money is a little bit of an issue right now. 305LG4Cutlass, nice to know the generic ones work good to. I saw one like yours on the internet the other night with the honeycomb design and it was a very decent price. I was just a little nervous about buying generic, but now I will keep it into consideration. Anyone have Carsound and have something good or bad to say?

 

hey man, I have a carsound 3 inch cat on my car and I haven't had any problems with it. Its a universal cat though, not a direct fit. I got it off ebay for $40 and then just took it to the exhaust shop to have it welded on.

 

One more thing to mention, my exhaust hanger on one side was broken for a while and the catalytic converter was the low spot on the exhaust, it tended to hit some rocks on my driveway and got pretty dented up on the bottom but it hasn't been affected at all. Nothing has come apart inside it and it does have a fancy lookin shield sorta thing that wraps around the bottom and I guess that thing took all the beating and did its job. I wish I knew who made it.

 

Hey Mike83Z-28, do you know what type of design the Carsound Cat is? Is it the honeycomb style?

Thanks 305LG4Cutlass for the additional info. Sounds like it was made really strong. If you ever figure out who makes it let me know. Thanks again.

 

inside of the carsound magnaflow 3 inch high flow cat

 

up to the light u can see the light at the end of the tunnel

 

Sweet pics man. Just what I needed. Looks like all of the cats are basically the same. Just a matter of preference and price. Thanks for the help and pics.