My 98 Forester always pulls towards the right pretty hard. After it warms up, the wheel shakes a lot, and the whole ride is a lot less soft. Also, I am throwing a Catalyst Ineffeciency code, which I am guessing is one of the Catalytic converters. My question is this:

What is causing is to shake a bit after warming up (And sometimes stops if l speed up or downshift from fourth to third), howm uch would it cost to fix whatever the problem is, how much for an alignment, and how much would it cost me to get the entire exhaust done catback, replacing it with one cat instead of the stock two, and a noisemaker muffler?

Thanks!

An alignment, as long as there r no damaged parts or damaged tires, will run $49.95 for a lifetime alignment at Sears. The exhaust is a lot more money. Usually u can expect to lay down about $400-$500 for an exhaust with a hi-flow cat & a hi-flow muffler, installed. As for deleting one of the cat's, u need to check with Subaru & ur states' emission laws to see if u can or not. Most cars with two converters have two exhaust pyrometers & deleting one will cause the ECU to go into default mode, where u will get the check engine light & all sorts of codes will pop up, & even to the point where the ecu will shut down after some time, & will need to be reset.

The pulling to the right & the shaking which sometimes goes away when u speed up r probably because ur car needs a front-end alignment. You should take care of that quickly because it causes excessive tire wear.

Your catalyst inefficiency diagnostic trouble code is likely caused by the failure of ur primary (front) catalytic converter. Your car is out of warranty for that part unless u purchased an extended warranty. As noted in the link, below, Subaru is MSRP, according to http://1stsubaruparts.com , for ur 1998 Forester is primary (front) catalytic converter is $624 in the US, just for the part. Given that, l doubt you'd want to mess around with installing some fancy new muffler, too.

In the US, EPA regulations make it illegal in all 50 states to tamper with any of ur car is emissions control devices, such as catalytic converters. It might be difficult to find an exhaust shop that would agree to eliminate one of ur catalytic converters.

there r only 3 things l can tell you

the pulling is an alignment problem. try cleaning under the wheel wells & the tie rods. chances r it can be caked on mud & grime. if that doesnt help it get an alignment check. brakes plus charges 20 bucks to see what is causing the problem.

as for exhausts.i replaced the exhaust in my subaru for about 300 bucks by myself. l figured why pay for just the aftermarket one when l can put on a nice one myself. u just have to look online & im sure u can find a cheap one & with a book & a few hours of free time youll be fine.