I had one of the factory cats failing on my 2021 F-150 with the 3.5 EcoBoost and decided to upgrade to these stainless downpipes. First and foremost, I was a manufacturing manager at the largest aerospace and defense company on the planet where I had a couple dozen welders working with aluminum and stainless steel…so let’s say I’ve seen plenty of welds on stainless, and these downpipes have some top notch welds. Everything came together nicely. In order to avoid removing the cross brace I used a saws-all to cut the factory stuff out and used a ratchet strap to help line things up. It went smoothly with no issues and it sounds fantastic! I already have the hot and cold side intercooler pipes from CVFab also, so now I need the intake and intercooler and I’ll be all set. Thanks for the top-notch products!