Hi all, brand new to the forum. Just had a question for anyone that has a catless wrx as a daily. I've been considering doing it but I'm a little worried about drone, dependability and what not. I'm currently on the stock downpipe with a single exit catback. I do like the sound of catless but I drive about 40miles round trip a day for work 5x a week. Any and all help is appreciated!
The catless part doesn't decide drone. Having the amount of resonators (and placement of them) and style/type of muffler decide noise and drone. Typically Cans (when there is no silencer) and straight pipes have drone.
That's a lot of carbon monoxide you're talking about putting out for no damn reason. Why do you not want a catalytic converter no your car? There are lots of very free flowing aftermarket exhaust options that offer catalytic converters.
Theres way to many shade tree mechanics who think CATs are evil, Pulling your CAT will not make more power, your tune makes more power. You CAN tune for a CATless exhaust system and make a little bit more power but high flow CATs are easy to find and they work great while also not shitting on the air we all have to breathe.
As for drone listen to clips on the web and when you finally decide which exhaust kit you like be sure you install it correctly so you dont have to stress about leaks being very loud.
To answer your question, I do not have any issues with drone on my catless exhaust. When I took the exact same exhaust system and removed the cat from the downpipe with no other changes, there was a noticeable change in volume and grunt in the sound of the exhaust (for the better). It's also easier to hear the turbo "ringing" away during low load spool conditions and sometimes even idle (such as accelerating in 1st/2nd gear).
The one downfall is that wind will sometimes blow exhaust in a way that it goes inside the car and obviously being catless, that's far from the best smelling or healthiest thing to happen (for myself and others).
The one downfall is that wind will sometimes blow exhaust in a way that it goes inside the car and obviously being catless, that's far from the best smelling or healthiest thing to happen (for myself and others).
What you smell when the wind blows the right way the guy behind you smells the entire time. It's asinine, immature, and completely unnecessary. Health and environment aside.
i dont have a cat for the simple reason they cant be replaced independently. if my cat dies im out $700 for my downpipe instead of just paying $100 for a new cat. im not against cats, but im also not for them either. its not even a matter of flow or power. its a matter of whats necessary. i personally dont feel cats are a solution but more of a band-aid. lower emissions can be had with better fuel (like E85) and technology should be researching into that. instead they think batteries are the future (what a joke, we all know its hydrogen cell tech). if every engine on earth ran on ethanol instead of petrol, we wouldnt have the emissions problems we do now.
when aftermarket companies make replaceable cats, i will use a cat. in the mean time, my little amount of pollution doesnt compare to the douchebag in the old truck blowing smoke next to me on the highway. go after his ass and leave my well maintained car alone mr. establishment :rocks:
Just stuff it in where you can. Obviously being closer to the engine is ideal as it keeps the cat at the proper temp, but having one is better than not having one I suppose. It even has built-in heat shielding between your car and the cat because, well, they get hot.
There are probably better options out there, but just wanted to let you know they do exist
i know they exist and that is the actual problem. i was referring to bolt-ons. companies like cobb, invidia, etc... the cat is welded into the main pipe when they could be doing exactly what you linked from the factory. they could make the cat modular and replaceable. they totally exist and they just dont use them. i know manufacturing and its not hard to add a few welds and flanges to the assembly line.
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