Again..I really think this assesment is wrong. It's not like putting cats on a supercharged car, they are going to instantly fail. Otherwise how do you explain that I have two supercharged cars, and one has had cats for 3 years, the other one, and they are both fine. Both also spend a lot more time racing and on the dyno than a normal car. I have nothing to gain here..if cats normally failed, I would tell people not to buy them, because I would rather not deal with upset customers when they do fail. However every warranty issue, Kooks contacts us to verify that the customer bought from us. And that alone tells me this is a much rarer situatation than this thread leads on. Just because you hear chatter on the internet does not mean that it is a gaurenteed outcome. The bottom line here is, if you supercharge your car..yes, there is a greater chance the cats can fail. Just like any other part can fail at a higher application. However properly tuned, a cat can last just fine.
Kooks uses the same cats on every other LSx application including LS3 Corvettes, and this is not an issue anywhere really but here. So there is either something going on in how these specific cars are designed or how they are being tuned.
As for tuners..they are an interesting group. I have personally talked to several reputable tuners, and when you mention another reputable tuner, it always.."Yeah, I have fixed a bunch of cars he tuned, or "That guy has no clue what he is doing". This will be one reputatable tuner talking about another. I have never dealt with a tuner that will say another tuner is better than him, or that someone elses tunes are as good as he could do. I strongly suggest everyone here to watch a Greg Brandish DVD one day. They cost alot, but they explain alot about the different ways of tuning a car. The first thing you learn is that there are plenty of ways to run a car, make it run okay, but still have it be a fairly lazy tune that does not address alot of things. Most customers would never know because tuning is largely a black science unless you are into it.
My comments are not aimed at anyone in particular in this thread. I just hate this conversation because any cat manufactuer will also tell you that cats don't just fail..there is a reason they fail..and it is normally the tune. Cats are made of the same material..and have very little variance in production. One tune to another can be 180 degrees different even though both cars run fine.
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Originally Posted by Blue70SS
No disrespect, but I've heard of plenty of cats failing by several extremely reputable tuners here on C5. LT headers and Hi-flows just don't mix north of 600 RWHP IMO and researching. (even shortys with high flow cats have failed) I think a "perfect tune" that doesn't risk possible detonation or cat damage for the long haul at much higher RWHP is not obtainable. If emmision testing is a concern, the cats need to be installed for testing and keep a light throttle, then removed till next testing time. Every hi-flow cat manufacturer's excuse has been "poor tuning". Two high end cat manufacturers both reccomended this to me.
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