Help! case of paying for quality or brand name.

[ayjay]

Hello everyone i am new here so appologies if this or something similar has been poseted before.

I have recently brought a 03 VTR and have been having a great time with it, until last week.
I noticed my engine management light come on and soon after some loud noise. After some inspection i found that there is a split in the bottom of my cat just before it joins the center pipe which is causing a loud blow and lack of performance ):
After looking around online and talking to my friend who owns his own garage i have decided that rather then replace the cat to opt for a 4-2-1 manifold and performace system. I had planned to do this eventually but as the cat needs replacing now there is no time like the present i suppose.

The point of this post is that after doing some research online and looking at various prices it seems the favorite option for most is a SS manifold. The thing is just the manifold is looking like its going to cost me a good £350 then plus the rest of the system im looking at a good 6-7 hundred which is more then i really want to spend considering the car only cost me £1200 and when i go to sell it on i can imagine i would lose a healthy chunck of that investment. However i found a cheaper UNBRANDED alternative here:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CITROEN-SAXO-PHASE-2-VTS-VTR-8V-MANIFOLD-DECAT-DE-CAT-EXHAUST-SYSTEM-/140658805076?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item20bfeb0954

Basically im wondering if this system will be any good, is it a case of you pay for quality or is it branding that ups the price of well known parts. Does anyone have any personal experience with the branded vs unbranded performance parts dilema?

Thanks in advance
Adam.

[mlawlan69]

you pay for quality, and that's that.

avoid ebay special exhaust systems, as most of them look pretty, but in reality, give no benefit whatsoever.

your best option is to buy members on here, OR wait until you have 100 posts and access the for sale section. it's literally full of things like this, keep an eye out for a 2nd hand supersprint manifold, or raceland, i have a raceland on mine, and the quality is really good for the price, and they have been tested along with the supersprint, and give just as good gains, for less cash :)

heres one on ebay :) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Saxo-vtr-raceland-manifold-4-2-1-/300815397151?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4609feb11f

looks clean and is fairly priced !

[Prickle]

Up to you, i didnt want cheap make tat on my car so went for a new Supersprint mani.

Quality will differ obviously. welds, steel used? fitments ect.

[Xplodee]

As said avoid cheap parts as they probably wont last and the fitment may not be as good.