Any feedback about which are better? Any concerns about reliability? A long while back there were posts about the ceramics inside the Crawford cats coming loose and rattling aroung; especially if you beat on your car when it was cold.

 

I know someone who had the Kinetix and they ended up collapsing so he sent them back for new ones. He also decided to go with crawford instead of the kinetix. I recently ordered the Crawfords myself. My past experience ordeing from Crawford was STELLAR!! Second to none and I wish I could buy more things from them! How often does the owner take 15 -20 minutes out of his day to talk you through an install or just to BS really! Very helpful folks there and they really do offer the BEST customer service! I highly doubt you will have any problems with the crawfords!

 

I can only comment on the Crawford cats that I have. Excellent fitment, finish, and sound. They did contribute to an increase in power. I have read that the Kinetix may have fitment issues, but have no first hand experience. I would not hesitate to recommend the Crawfords. A top quality product.

Lou

 

I still have the occasional rattle problem with the Crawfords (I probably need to adjust the heat shield a bit more), but I've never heard of the guts falling apart in them.

 

I have the Crawford cats and I love 'em. No rattle, no rasp, and no problems installing.

 

go with the crawford,,,, the only problem i had was rattling on the driver side,, took me 5 mins to bent the heat shield back. very happy..

 

hey there, do you mind explain to me which heat shield are you talking about. 'cause i have Greddy EVO2 and crawfords, and it rattle bad when it's under 2000 RPM. so, if you don't mind i would like to see some pics if it's possible ..thank you so much

 

LSU

Look at the picture I posted. At the front of the exhaust head pipes you can see the cats and their extension pipes that attach to the exhaust. The cats turn up to the exhaust manifold. The heat shields are above the cats, between the top of the cats and the underside of the car. Do you see them?

That was the reason I posted the picture in the first place, because the cats are visable.

Lou

 

The drivers side cat seems to rub against the frame when the engine is under torque. You can bend up the heat shield where the 2 "clamshells" are welded together to get a bit more clearance.

 

I installed my Kinetix cats this weekend, after a 2 1/2 week "Production delay." After I already had the stock ones off, I noticed a 1" section along one of the input-side flanges that was not welded and I could see daylight through it. There was no question it would leak. I borrowed a car and took it to the local Midas. The guy welded it for free, but couldn't stop capping on the poor build quality. He pointed out the curled metal shavings sticking into the flow path where the O2 sensor threads were welded on, some were loose enough to become detached after a few hot-cold cycles, not to mention giving back some of the "High flow."

Anyway, fixed and back under the car. The heat shield looked tight, as I expected. It was too tight for belding, so I trimmed where needed. The driver's side cat seemed very close to the car body, but I hadn't heard of that problem, so I finished up. Sure enough, under even moderate acceleration, the cat rattled loudly against the body. Worse, I could actually feel it right under my feet. It felt like ABS engaging, except during acceleration. I took that side back off, and pounded an egg-sized dimple in the sheet metal it was contacting. Luckily it's a double-layered section.

Also, due to the lower weight, compared to stock, they eliminated the cat brackets, which is probably fine for the most part. Except, because the fitment is so poor, apparently my Y-pipe and mid-pipe sit lower, because now they scrape (High-center) coming into my driveway, which is new.

Oh yeah, since they come with the new hardware that is needed, but don't come with instructions, torque values are a guess. I managed, without significant strain, to strip one of their nuts upon first tightening with a 6" long, 3/8" ratchet. It wouldn't even un-screw, I had to saw-zall it off. Good times.

I know all these things are fairly easily fixed, but you shouldn't have to. Now that it's done and a few hundred miles ticked by, I can say that I'm not really stoked on the sound. Idle is a bit louder, which I like, and soft acceleration is a little more aggressive, which I also like. Under hard WOT, it's gets ricey @2200 rpm. Comes on like a 2-stroke power band (Sound-wise). Car pulls a little harder from 3k to 5k, but not enough to offset my wife's comment, "What did you do to your car? It used to sound good, now it sounds like one of those Hondas with the Japanese writing." I hadn't even told her I did anything. I regret not paying a bit more and getting the Crawfords. To be fair, maybe I just got a bad set. I never contacted Kinetix on the matter, as I was too deep in the project before I realized how bad they really are.