You don’t just get a little sound and power with custom build exhaust; you get overwhelming horsepower gains, a handy boost in MPG, and the most famous exhaust tone in the automotive world. Not to mention, each exhaust system is custom-bent from aluminized or stainless steel to fit your specific year, make and model vehicle.

Best yet, custom exhaust gives you choice: for an all-out loud exhaust system, go with a Flowmaster American Thunder. The Flowmaster Pro Series is almost as loud, but boasts a deeper tone. Sport compacts, imports and Euro machines sound off with the Flowmaster dBX Series. And, for wicked performance with a mild tone, the Flowmaster Force II System is the way to go. Plus, you pick from single, dual, side and rear exits (depends on model).

A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device which converts toxic chemicals in the exhaust of an internal combustion engine into less toxic substances.

Inside a catalytic converter, a catalyst stimulates a chemical reastion in which toxic byproducts of combustion are converted to less toxic substances by way of catalysed chemical reactions.

The specific reactions vary with the type of catalyst installed. Most present-day vehicles that run on gasoline are fitted with a “three-way” converter, so named because it converts the three main pollutants in automobile exhaust: an oxidizing reaction converts carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC), and a reduction reaction converts oxides of nitrogen (NOx) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen (N2), and water (H2O).

The first widespread introduction of catalytic converters was in the United States market, where 1975 model year gasoline-powered automobiles were so equipped to comply with tightening U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations on automobile exhaust emissions.

These were “two-way” converters which combined carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). Two-way catalytic converters of this type are now considered obsolete, having been supplanted except on lean burn engines by “three-way” converters which also reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx).

Any vehicles manufactured with a catalytic converter is required to have said part at all times due to environmental regulations or through health and safety regulations.