Should I remove the Primary Catalytic Converters on My Aston Martin V12 Engine??

In November we exhibited at the Classic Car Show at the NEC in Birmingham. It’s an annual event for us and we love meeting clients and talking about cars. This year we were surprised about the number of people asking us about our lack of YouTube content and what our thoughts were about Primary Catalyst Converter removal on the V12 engines. It’s December, we have time so here we go.

Firstly, why would you want to remove your Cats?
They don’t have any manufacturing issues that we are aware of and Aston have never issued a recall for them. If you are looking for more performance and you want to modify your car it will cost thousands of pounds, money you won’t get back as you know but it’s your car and who am I to say? Your engine management will have to be re written to cope with the change and this may mean deletion of the Engine warning light full stop, this means your engine cannot warn you if it has a problem, a misfire for example and if that is the case you may not know about it until you have major damage because your exhaust sensors can’t tell you about it. This will also void any warranty you had and prevent you from selling back to the main dealer network and most others as warranty companies will not pay out on modified cars, remember they are always looking for an excuse.

The most common reason we hear is that owners are scared their engine will have a miss fire and damage the Cats. Once damaged the fragments will be sucked back into the engine and cause untold damage.

Our opinion
We can only comment on our experiences and opinions. Our response is this. We have been buying and selling Aston Martins since the late 1990’s. Since 2004 We have bought and sold something in the region of 3,500 to 4,000 used Aston Martins in that time. How many of those cars that we sold, warranted, bought back and sold again have ever had an issue with a Catalytic Converter? ZERO! Not one car.

If you are being advised you should carry out this procedure please make sure it’s the right choice for you and your car and your reasons are well justified. Is it possible? Well anything is possible. Is it probable? We think it’s highly unlikely and as we have said of all the Aston Martins we have dealt with over the years it’s just never happened to us at all ever and Aston Martin don’t seem to be worried about it either or you would have a letter about it I’m sure.

Originality is key to the value of your car especially as it gets older and reaches for Classic Car status. Your Aston needs to be the best. The most original well cared for car on the market. History tells us that the best cars are presented with Certificates of Authenticity and Originality around the world by different manufacturers and yours will be no exception. Modified cars are generally frowned upon in the used market and the cost is a factor. Is there an environmental issue here too dare I ask? A brave question given the V12 engine. And don’t forget the value of your used cats. The precious metals are well sought after and will fetch a lot of money. Whilst writing this and out of interest a local recycling center would offer me £500 for one manifold containing two cats. A profitable business in itself clearly.

We hope you find this short article helpful in your decisions and knowledge about your Aston.