Cat-back exhaust, muffler... what?

A

Alex

Active member
I took my car to an old friend of my dads to get it looked at recently, and while we were doing some repairs on it, I was asking him about various upgrade for my vehicle. I was talking about getting a new muffler, he said something about getting a new 'cat-back exhaust'

Whats the difference between a muffler and a cat-back? Are they two separate things? How much do they typically go for, and whats the over all performance boost I would get for my car?
 
M

Mojo

Member
A cat back is a muffler already mounted to a tailpipe that bolts into the back of the catalytic converter, ready to go.

A new muffler is simply the muffler and would need to be mounted to your existing exhaust pipe after cutting off the old muffler.

Overall performance gains vary with make and model of car but probably wouldn't exceed 5% and typically run more like 2-3% without further modification.

Paying for either of these things would typically run 150-300$ or more depending on quality of parts used and who's doing the labor.
 
R

RandyJ

Member
He might of been talking about a Cadillac converter. That is almost like a muffler. It is located usually right behind the motor. Most states require to have them on the vehicle for the smog control. Personally I don't like them and have taken them off and threw them away.
 
Top