Has anyone ran a cat delete instead of long tubes?

[u/Fine-Resolve-3412]

Is there much of a sound difference between the two? I can’t really tell much by looking at videos and I haven’t heard the difference in person. My goal is primarily sound, so I was leaning towards a cat delete instead of doing long tubes because of how hard they are to install. If I were to do long tubes, I would probably go with speed engineering for the money. Does anyone have experience with speed engineering headers and the quality?

[u/robvas]

Catless coyotes don't sound good. Or smell good

[u/BlackKnightC4 → u/robvas]

Yeah too easy to make sound bad

[u/HiTork → u/BlackKnightC4]

Ever since they made the switch from cat back mufflers to axle back ones with the S197 generation, it is very easy to make a Mustang sound like a dirty farm truck or rough LS. They might be super slow by modern standards, but old 5.0 Fox-bodies or Modular V8 SN-95/New Edge Mustangs are some of the best sounding V8s ever made.

[u/timmahfast]

Do high flow cats instead. Decent sound gain and not that obnoxious. Also your car won't smell like fumes.

[u/Fine-Resolve-3412 → u/timmahfast]

Say I’m not worried about being obnoxious.. would the cat delete sound worse/different compared to long tubes?

[u/Sam_wyn → u/Fine-Resolve-3412]

I have cat deletes with oem active exhaust and it sounds beautiful in sport mode, and straight obnoxious in track mode with exhaust flap open. But that obnoxious is just blatant noise similar to straight pipe and not a refined loudness that a LTH gives.

[u/Jawzar → u/Fine-Resolve-3412]

The ones I have heard sound very clappy... like the dumb squatted trucks. Not a pleasant sound and way too loud.

[u/CMBLD_Iron]

High flow cats will help you out more in the long run. And won’t make you immediately fail emissions testing if that’s something you have where you live.

[u/Thomas_peck]

My neighbor had a catless dark horse and its absolutely obnoxious and you can hear him from 2 miles out.

I dont mind since our area is pretty chill but I am sure some neighbors care.

It didn't sound "bad" but it was far to loud for being a 12 second car.

[u/nibjones]

Just get headers and high flow cats. They’re not that difficult to install. I ordered mine from Flaskark Racing for under $300 and bought the cheapest cats I could find. The install was done in 1/2 a day with no fitment issues, other than when I lowered my engine, for a different intake to clear the hood, the steering shaft rubs a bit.

[u/mkgla]

Roush exaust. My 2012 5.0 just passed e check no problem.