Poor real life experience with full cat back

[juantushag]

Hi everyone, just wanted to share my cat back experience which was other than optimal. I will not mention the name of the vendor as they make great products and are similar to most aftermarket cat back exhausts.

Basically had a full cat back installed and dyno'd before and after showing a nice 7 hp gain at the wheels. However upon driving it just didn't "feel" as fast.

My co worker owns a prius and before purchasing the crz I was on the fence about which to buy,,,,,,needless to say we drag race at least every week, and I would spank his prius every time. Now with the exhaust I was at a clear dissadvantage. The best I could do was dead even. This was on several different days to make certain I wasnt off on something. Also the new exhaust made the car sound like an econo bucket with a worn muffler. I have since put the stock set up back on .

I'm not trying to steer anyone away from exhaust mods, just want to share my opinion/experience that I got much better results ( performance and sound ) from the stock set up.

[Scotty001]

^ ah, now that you put it out there ... Don't need to state who the vendor is but, do need to tell us which cat back it was.. and let the discussion begin. Is what the forum is for.. Maybe there is something else going on and some of the tuners here may be able to provide additional information..

[varg]

Could be the gain was mostly in the top rpm range and that it lost some power lower down. Would be nice to see the dyno curves. Also what brand was this?

[juantushag]

Hi scotty ! I've been away for a while but still been following your posts and info, good stuff !

Yes I'm trying to figure a way to do so without naming the manufacturer ( that's what I meant to say ). Also I neglected to mention mine was a pre production model. While that is significant I don't think the production version will be much different and this is why I decided to post at this time.

Yours is good advice - maybe there is some tuning missing that could make this come alive. My fear is that there is a loss of tq that the 7hp increase cannot make up for.

What do u think?

[juantushag]

Originally Posted by varg

Could be the gain was mostly in the top rpm range and that it lost some power lower down. Would be nice to see the dyno curves. Also what brand was this?

Hi varg, yes that is what I was thinking. I was not given the dyno chart , I was curious as to exactly where the 7hp was also. Additionally I was not given any tq info.

One thing I forgot to mention, the car seemed to absolutely get better mileage with the aftermarket exhaust ( 3 fill ups averaging 2 mpg increase ! )

[Scotty001]

^ Aye, I am thinking that in order for the Forum to better assist - you may need to go back and ask for the Dyno stats - I'm guessing there may of been some legal issues etc you have to abide by for a pre-production T&E install.. But, gonna be hard to assist without additional info..

Getting better mileage is not a bad thing.. Not being able to smoke a Prius is a bad thing (on a track)

[juantushag]

Your right on all observations, I will see if I can get the actual dyne sheet.

Just to clarify the drag race thing with the prius , we go home the same way and it's just a run up the fwy onramp to about 70, Not really a drag race and I don't condone any kind of street racing.

[daveczrn]

you haven't said, but after going back to the stock exaust, have you noticed that it's back to being quicker now?

[hotboxn]

Sorry to hear about your poor experience. Hopefully you end up deciding to post the manufacturer so that others do not make the same mistake and waste money on that product.

[lldsandsll]

maybe it was and maybe it wasn't yours, but i just installed the p2r catback yesterday and i give it glowing reviews. absolutely thrilled with it all around.