Any thoughts/feedback on this? I need a new cat. This is cheap...but skeptical because it's so inexpensive. $200 shipped from Stillen right now.

 

Junk. nuff said.

 

I hear they suck... they go bad quick.

 

you could go even cheaper and get same quality

 

Could you suggest something?

 

You see that's the problem, you're going by hear say. You show me one person that never had a problem with a y-pipe, struts, etc. (regardless who made it) Sure there are some that had their RT cat crap out on them, but there are many more who has had them for years without a problem. I've had mine since Nov 2001 and it's all good.

So Komax found a RT cat for $200. Since I haven't been in the cat market since 2001 I really don't know if that's a good price when compared to other cats.

Personally I say if the $200 price tag is better than other cats, go ahead and buy the RT. Not all products are 100% reliable, some will fail most will not. If the majority of RT cats were failing I would have hope RT themself would have pulled the cats from the shelf.

MIKE

 

Reliability is all perception but putting that aside they're still a junk investment from the standpoint of what people REALLY buy them for. Most people are under the disillusion that they'll free up some power for the butt dyno to feel when in reality they show no gains at all on a chassis dyno when used on most newer Nissan vehicles.

 

I just bought a Warpspeed cat converter since my stock one had a hole in it. I spoke to Dallas, and he said that maxima.org members get a special price. Mine is the metallic substrate cat. The total price came to $93.80. That's a lot cheaper than the $300 OEM cat that the muffler shop was initially telling me about. The car sounds better (I guess since that rattling sound caused by the hole is gone) and seems more effeicient overall. Dallas said that with the ceramic substrate cat that they offer for $175, there's only a 20% more flow. Furthermore, the cat doesn't make your exhaust louder, which is a good thing for me. In addition, he said that the RT cat and carsound cats are really made by the same company. He said that they sell more of the regular metallic substrate high flow cats for the maxima than the ceramic type. It really depends on whether you want that high end part for your vehicle. The ceramic cat is more for turbo and supercharged maximas. The most gain he ever saw from the cats were 5HP. I didn't ask him whether it was a NA maxima of FI maxima, though.

 

Ummm, I'm pretty sure the metallic substrate cats are $175 and the ceramic ones are ~$100, just for reference. I have a carsound from WSP and it added top end and took away low end. Nothing big though.

 

the major flaws in the RT piece.

POS heat shield
swivel flanges... don't seal too well.

 

Yeah. That's what I meant.

 

so would the gains from a ceramic cat be worthwhile.... i mean if you lose low end?

 

had mine 4 months before the heat shield rotted off

 

I had mine for less than a year and the material inside broke apart. Made me look like I was driving a POS car.

 

^^.

My R/T cat last 1 year before it rattled apart.

 

Maybe the RT/cat is junk, but the cat converter that I received from warspeed looks like it is of a very solid construction. I don't really feel any loss of low end. The gains you may see depend on your performance mods. However, the gains are not that much, 5HP at the most.

 

$200.00 is not a "deal" for a random tech cat, I got mine for a little less from a local shop. Speaking of mine, one of the bricks came apart after a little over a year. I've been on this site a while and a lot of folks have expressed their displeasure for R/T cats. Is it the majority of R/T owners? I don't know, but enough for me to believe they have quality control issuses. Another thing is you won't see any noticeable gains running without a cat let alone a "hi-flow" cat. I'd shop around a bit more. Don't be swayed cause it's a so called name brand. Lastly stillen does'nt usually offer anything at the best price. They generally sell quality items but you pay for the name with every purchase.