Got my Kinetix cats installed tonight. Everything went well except that the fitment wasn't very good. They were close, but were angled just a little bit off. (Off by a few degrees too much.) This required us to really crank down the flanges between the cats and the y-pipe, causing a lot of strain to be put on the flex-pipe sections of the y-pipe. Basically, the flex-pipe was the only thing that allowed the cats to fit, and even then it was just barely. The flex-pipes are compressed and bowed out a bit (like they were inflated slightly). From other people's installs I've seen, the flex-pipe sections are straight and not curved, suggesting much less pressure on them then my installation has.

Anyway, it doesn't sound like there are any leaks, so I'm sure everything is connected snugly. I'm just worried about the strain on things and what it might do down the road, thousands of miles from now. (Cracking welds in flanges, etc.)

Anyone else have such fitment issues with Kinetix cats?

 

Id call kinetix, cause if you go aftermarket exhaust, you wont nescessarily have that flex pipe section to take up the slack. with whats been going on around here... just IMO Id get the replacement now just incase.

 

i installed a set last weekend, and had fitment issues as well. all of the flanges lined up, but the heat shield on the cat was hitting the frame of the car. i had to take the cat out and "adjust" it with the hammer...

...needless to say, i wasn't impressed.

i have installed the helix test pipes, and the RT cats as well. both of these fit flawlessly.

 

I just installed the Kinetix Resonated pipe and the fitment was terrible. I had to have the shop make some modification to make this fit and not strain the y-pipe.

 

From experience with Corvettes I have put exhausts on, you might try and losing all the bolts for your exhaust system then tighten the Kinetix pieces first.

 

Has anyone had fitment issues with Kinetix cats and a Borla True Dual catback?

 

When I installed mine a few months back, I made sure not to tighten everything down until I had hand tightend all the bolts. The cats were tight, but I don't think there is any strain on the flex sections of the Y-pipe. One thing that I did have to do (about a week after the install) was to take a hammer and screwdriver and bend the heat shield on the car up and away from the cats. They were buzzing REAL bad on decel before I did that. Now it's quiet.

-Chris

 

Here is a very crude drawing I just did to show you the angle of things. You can see how this would cause a fair amount of strain on the flex pipes.

 

Yeah, based on your picture, I'd say that either the cats are't straight, or there is something holding them at the weird angle. Can you try loosening some of the bolts and see if that straightens things out?

-Chris

 

We did check the flange connections up on the exhaust manifold to make sure they were connected straight. Everything looked good there.

 

Many people have complained about the Kinetix CATs. That's why I went Crawford. Not sure why they haven't tried to fix the problem - too busy with plenums I guess.

 

Yeah, Crawford's was also on my list, but I couldn't find out which cat core they used. I emailed and got no response, and no one on the forums knew from what I could tell. That left me with Kinetix and Random Tech. I basically ended up going Kinetix because:

1) Kinetix uses Carsound cores, which are very nice.

2) There were numerous reports of failed Random Tech cats, and none from Kinetix. (Probably not a big deal, but it affects your decision when you're just about to buy one.)

3) The Kinetix were far less expensive.

Overall, the quality and build of the Kinetix units looks very good and solid. This fitment issue seems to be the only downside. Oh well.

 

Ultimate Racing cats use Carsound cores and the build quality is second to none. The price isn't bad to boot.

 

If I recalled correctly, the Crawford CATS uses Walker cores. Any Crawford guys out there can correct me if I am wrong.

 

If I recall correctly, the Crawford CATS uses Walker cores. Any Crawford guys out there can correct me if I am wrong.

 

I hear ya. I wouldn't touch the RTs! Not a piece I want to swap every 6 months
For me the Crawfords were about the same price as Kinetix since I'm in CA (tax)
Not sure about the core, but haven't heard complaints about them thankfully.
Hope it works out for you.

 

had anyone put them up with the nismo exhuast?

 

Just go crawford i never hear complaints about them.

 

I just installed my crawford cats this morning. Originally, I thought of getting kinetix but after reading about all their customer support issues, I went with crawford. They fit perfectly. The alignment was right on.