EBAY cheapo cats=garbage.

[green97gt]

hey, just thought i would post this so everyone has a decent chance to stay the F away from them.

getting a defunct 2000 outback back on the road, we purchased a cat. converter cheapo from ebay, i think we spent about $300 or so...

LESS THAN 5,000 miles later, i get a call from the sis with a complaint of loss of power, and occasional CEL, she takes it to a shop, and the guts of the cat had crumbled and fallen apart.

stay away from the cheapos.

lesson learned.

[Reason]

Thanks for the heads up, I was going to get one. But I was just going to use it for inspections then swap it out.

[lord flashheart]

the rule of thumb applies here. you get what u pay for with catalytic converters. if u get a cheapo get it from autozone. atleast they have a 5 year warrenty on many cats they sell. so u may have to change it yearly but atleast you dont have to pay for it.

[d1giPhux]

Who did you buy it from. I reccomend buying cats from 'muffler express' on ebay. They make parts to OEM spec and are quality stuff! Not to mention they are cheap too! Did you buy a generic or something?

[green97gt]

ive looked a little, but cant find the seller name.

it was just an "oem" replacement cat.

[StatGSR]

im confused... you spend $300 on a Cheap cat??? you can buy carsound/magnaflow cats for like $60-100

[lord flashheart]

im confused... you spend $300 on a Cheap cat??? you can buy carsound/magnaflow cats for like $60-100
300 is cheep for my car. just one cat for my OB is like $1200, so im told.

[green97gt]

This had to pass CA emmissions, we were told it had to be direct equipment replacement, so thats what we got.

[ouch1011]

OEM replacement means you bought it from the dealer.

Anything else is aftermarket.

You can find true OEM parts on e-bay, but they will not be that cheap.

$300 for a direct fit cat is CHEAP. True OE cats are $1000+.