458 Check your left and right cat support bracket bushings on the 458 - just replaced mine *photos*

I see the finished quality of your new ones is just as bad as it was for mine. I decided to flat back and refinish in high temp matte paint pre install. I did the brackets they mount to at the same time to make a nice neat job of it.

 

Mine surely are toast and will replace when I put the 200 cel cats in later this fall. When you track a car so heavily it’s almost impossible to stay on top of things. And this is just normal (but highly accelerated) maintenance, nothing has really broken on my car yet.

 

Noticed you have a bolt missing there from your right hand side one?

 

Oh. They supplied me 6 new ones but they came in zinc finish so I painted them black along with the brackets.

part number 11627824

I dropped a bolt and washed too, but it was those damn fiddly little cap screws that hold the heat shields in place. I couldn’t leave them in the pan, so took the diffuser off and located them lol.

 

I also had to replaced my cat hangars. I did a writeup on it in the thread geared towards doing your own maintenance on your 458.
If you haven't sourced a bolt yet, I probably have my old one lying around (I can look for it if you want). I decided to get all new hardware since it only added a few bucks to the cost of the job. If you need it, PM me and I can throw it in the mail for you.

 

Looks like I'll need to tackle this job soon. I just checked and the bushings on both sides are torn.

Question for those who have done the job, are the nuts for the 3 bolts that attach the bracket to the cross member welded in place? I couldn't feel them or access them and don't want to lose them, especially since they appear to be NLA... Thanks!

 

There are steel brackets mounted to the alloy frame and they have captive nuts (well regular nuts welded to them). The exhaust brackets bolt down to them.

I decided to remove the lot so I could get the brackets stripped and then refinished them in a VHT matte paint. New cat mount brackets (also stripped and refinished), plus new hardware also redone in same paint. All back together it looks pleasingly factory fresh.


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Yes, they are welded in, so there's no fear of losing the nut once you remove the bolt.

 

I don't think he was talking about the bolt that you remove. He was asking about the nut that the bolt goes into, and that part is welded to the back of the bracket.

 

Yes, correct. I typed it late last night, I'm sorry if it didn't come out right.

Thanks for your help, parts ordered!

One more question - does the cat need to be supported once the bracket is removed in order to be able to install the replacement?

 

Mine stayed roughly still. Some light persuasion to move them up to the new tighter position, but easy enough and fair access.

Main agro is the tiny cap head bolts and washers that hold the heat shields! They are a swine and easily dropped.

 

Yes the cats will stay put, no need to support them. It's a very easy job, other than having to fight with the shields, and the tiny cap head screw holding it on (as Dom458 mentioned as well). You pretty much have to remove those before you can wiggle the bracket out, and it has to be done by feel. Be careful not to drop them! My recommendation is to get all new hardware. It's only a few extra dollars, and you will have new/extra parts. If something falls, it will be almost impossible to retrieve it.