Catalytic Converters

[quattro25]

Does anyone have any advice on replacing the Cats on an S6?

Has anyone found a supplier if Hi-flow replacement Cats and if so what sort of difference will it make to both noise levels and performance? Waht sort of prices should I expect?

A couple of suppliers have quoted me for cheaper replacement parts - does anyone know if the quality of these are OK and is it worth considering these items - cost savings look to be about £800 on dealer prices?

[editor]

Hiya - same question from me. My S6 is now 4 years old and I have done 65k mls in her since new. The O/S cat sounds like a bag of nails and the dealer wants £750 plus labour to fit a new one. So like quattro25 I am looking for a replacement alternative:-
1 Should I look at sports cats?
2 Should I look at replacing the whole system with a sports one - I am in discussions with Larini on this.
3 Should I forget the lot and use a dealer?

Any input cery welcome as I am not going to drive her now until I have the solution. I don't want a kilo of ceramic and platinum pieces flying through the centre box and taking out the mufflers.

CLIVE

[quattro25]

Clive, I got both cats replaced as they had both gone (one worse than the other admittedly). I did some digging around and contacted Milltek, from memory the price was very similar to the dealer price for high-flow units - this would have required the cats being removed from the car for about a week whilst the cores were replaced. I never got an answer about the noise levels or performance gains, so if you do go for it I'd be keen to know what I'm missing out on! There are no after market units available although I did speak to a couple of wholesalers who would have done me a deal in return for having something to copy. I also had an exhaust specialist who wanted to cut the old ones out and weld something else in - I assume for an S8.... but as you can imaging I resisted the temptation!!!!

In the end, I opted for the dealer option partly because of time off the road and partly because it comes with 2 yrs warranty, which given the price you don't want to be replacing them again in a hurry!

The dealer Cats are exchange items, which was disappointing - I had thought about getting them re-cored once my bank balance had recovered (I think it was going to be about an extra £180 each to keep the duff onces)

Rob

[editor]

Hi Rob - I was faced with about £1000 each fitted including VAT from the Dealer. Then found CATMAN.CO.UK and have given him a try. Not an OEM part but well made and heavy guage steel. I have am only replacing the O/S to see how it goes but the Price was £270 plus VAT, delivered to me.

See how it goes.

Kind regards

CLIVE

[rallye]

Hi used the catman for a replacement off side cat for my passat v6 4 motion after it started to rattle and it fitted well with no difference in performance and about £250 cheaper than the dealer, hopefully it will be a while before I need one for my s6.

[quattro25]

Clive,

Great news to hear there is now an alternative to the Dealer for this and a sensible price tag too.

Cheers

Rob

[editor]

More news on the CATMAN Cat.

It arrived the day after ordering with no delivery charge. Good quality heavy guage steel as I mentioned earlier - slightly different designed box but the same size.

So up on the ramp and having WD40ied the nuts the old one came off - very fiddly around the bottom of the manifold. However it fitted perfectly, no blows and off for the gentle run that was recommended to ease the cat into use.

Result - fault code for bank one being too rich has been eliminated as has the damn rattling and chattering noise from underneath. Also flat spot at 5000 rpm seems to have gone away.

So, I am pleased with this result.

CLIVE