I will be removing my pre cat soon and will be wrapping the downpipe with exhaust wrap to keep the under bonnet temps down and keep the heat from the air intake. Should I wrap the cat converter as well? I am off two minds with this 1) The heat wrap will help the cat run hotter and burn gases more efficiently and 2) The extra heat in the cat may cause it to break up over time?

Any advice is welcome?

Cheers Matt

I would imagine running the cat hotter would reduce its life. I would assume the standard cat configuration is as going to be just about optimal temperature wise.

Is your concern for the cat's effectiveness an environmental thing? Even if you can make it scrub out nasty gases a (tiny) bit better surely it won't increase power or economy?

The cat needs a certain temperature to "light off" and start converting, but overheating can cause it to burn out prematurely end it's life. The conversion itself is exothermic (creates heat) due to the predominately oxidation reaction.

I do not think that increasing the cat temperature would be a good idea, but since one of the functions of the pre-cat is to add heat into the system to aid the main cat's light off (which you're removing) as well as some early stage conversion, wrapping the main cat would aid it's light off, but longevity would ultimately be affected.

Simple answer, no I wouldn't wrap the cat.

You have to remember that the exhaust gases will be hotter anyway so you probably won't need to wrap the cat.

A few years ago, I had a Fiat Uno Turbo and I lagged the air intake pipes to stop detonation with increased boost pressure. It worked very well and the top of the engine where the air charge went in was always cool to the touch even after a good run . You may want to think about lagging the intake pipes also for maximum effect.

Cheers

Dave

I wouldnt mess with it

Youre asking for trouble

OR You could ask Skoda for advice

People with modded cars that I used to know only used to wrap the downpipes and no further. I'm not sure if different exhaust configs effect this much but the idea was to keep the engine bay temp down for the CAI to work more effectively & allow the exhaust gases to flow more easily. I assume you have modded the intake accordingly and are after the same effect. They never suffered ill health with the cats but this was on Type Rs

I wouldn't bother if I were you.

What stage remap/mods are you running?

Thanks for all your replies. Im just running a stage 1 Shark map but dont want to go to the expense of a sports cat down pipe and stage 2, as I dont feel the extra cost involved would make a massive on the road difference to the performance. After reading the posts I will just wrap the down pipe and and not bother with the cat.

Have you ever been in a stage 2 car? The difference over stage 1 is quite big especially in the mid range where every day driving occurs. Stage 3 is even better but you need the fuel pump.

I have been in Bens car at stage 2 when I initially went to get mine done last year. My car was not that much slower than his at stage 2 as he commented my car had taken well to the map and was bloody fast lol. Though the map on my car in Bens own words is a very warm stage 1