409 SS or 304 SS

Guys, I plan on buying headers and mid pipes soon. I will be purchasing a set of 304 SS JBA headers no matter what type of stainless runs after them. My cat back, built by Kieth from DirtyDeeds, is made of 409 and if memory serves, the TRD tailpipes are 304, although they are ceramic coated satin black.

My question, or rather your opinion that I'm after is about what makes sense for the mid pipes. I have a set of fairly new stock 409 cats and I'm wondering if it makes sense to install them into 304 SS JBA mid pipes.

It's about an 80 dollar difference and I'll do the tig work myself. If I just did them in 409 and high temp black, how long would they last?

I pretty much analyze every which way before I spend my hard earned pennies, so just humor me.

 

Sorry if my question is dumb but what are you calling the mid pipes?

 

The pipes between the manifold and mufflers. They hold the catalytic converters.

 

Toyota stock pipes are, I believe, 409. When I changed them out with the TRD exhaust, I noticed the pipes were covered with rust after only two years.

I would say get 304 if your weather has any moisture content that will likely to make things rust. It's worth the extra money. I guess if you live in Arizona, it doesn't matter.

Apparently it's not just wintery regions that has rust problems. Summer time can apparently become a major source of headache as well.

 

Ditto

 

Ditto X2. By the way, not just "wintery' conditions. If you live near any coast, east,west, Gulf, you will see a lot of vehicles with rust issues. (Salt in the air, worse than winter road salt. Coastal salty air is year round, 24/7)