Do aftermarket Catalytic converters ever work

My 2008 got hit by the tweakers this afternoon at work. They got away with both cats and the O2 sensor. Drove it to the dealer right before they close, no time for the quote but the foreman said ballpark cost will be $2k , IF they can get the cats.

My insurance has $500 deductible, but it's a beater 4cyl 5MT with frame damage.

I'm in a non-SMOG state, no inspections either. I can legally drive with straight pipes. Will the Amazon "direct fit" converters work without throwing codes?

Here is an example:

$96 AutoShack Catalytic Converter Exhaust Pipe Direct Fit Replacement for 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Toyota Tacoma 2.7L 4WD RWD (EPA Compliant) EMCC64704

https://www.amazon.com/AutoShack-EMCC64704-Compliant-Catalytic-Replacement/dp/B0916PK3WM/

 

If it said direct fit should be fit plus nothing you worry about inspection.
friend of mine bought that on Amazon when someone stole his cats and perfectly fit.

 

Some exhaust shops can weld in a repair with a new cat. Some are better than others but it will get you on your way.

Toyota cats are wildly backordered right now. I worked on a Tundra today that had a weld in solution to stolen cats, and it seemed to work just fine.

 

Which janky states don’t care about the environment?

 

United States

 

Yeah, that's what the dealer foreman was telling me, too. If, is the key word, they could get the cats.

 

I need to replace the down stream O2 sensor, I wonder if it's gonna throw a Cat efficiency code with at $100 cat.

I've only had good luck OEM/Denso sensors before, aftermarket O2 never worked more than couple weeks or months.

 

Probably what BISHOP84 is better way,
do you read and ask at Amazon rate for those who's bought it already?
Looks close to 5 star.

 

I bought one of the cheaper cat pipes from rock auto for around $3-400 if i remember right and have had no issues with it. Been on my 4cyl/5sp for 4-5 years and 50k miles.

 

Years ago Minnesota had an emission inspection requirement before you could get your plate or tab but they give it up. I guess they figured it was not worth the hassle as most passed and overall few vehicles were taken out of service.

 

Actually I don't think that's accurate, since CATs are a Federal requirement.

You may get away with it in a non inspection state, assuming they never have roadside random inspections. But getting away with it isn't the same as being legal.

 

I put aftermarket cats on my car when I slid off the road/a log took out the OEM ones - they were 400$ vs more than the car was worth [say 2K ish]

It threw a code [CEL light] but I knew it would do this [O2 sensor] and where I live, I could pass inspection with at least 2 codes being thrown so I was done caring about that aspect - I bought my car back from the insurance co. fixed everything and put a new clutch in then drove it for another 100K miles - the CEL light was a minor annoyance at best.
I did keep a BT dongle in the car to check every now/again and make sure I knew no new codes were being thrown.


I used to live in FL and they had mandatory emissions inspections at the time - they got rid of this nonsense b/c there was too much shady shit going on with the inspections/repairs/etc - nothing positive came from the inspections [eg removing polluting vehicles] and it just pissed everyone off.

The county I live in now only mandates a safety inspection - eg do your headlights/brake lights/etc work, if so you are good to go - no OBD stuff

 

China and India mainly....

 

^^^ This.

 

It should work. From my experience, aftermarket cats will work, but they just don't last as long as OEM.