Personally, I would stay away from cat deletes. You will get fumes you don't want. That was one thing I hated about my 350z when I first did test pipes. The smell was killing me.
Next to my turbo, my favorite mod is the FI exhaust with 18" resonators. The note of that exhaust is amazing to say the least. Especially after 4K rpm. Then when all that forced air gets blown through it, it really sings.
If you go with test pipes or lth and non resonated it will be extremely raspy. Some people love that, others don't. It does sound mean but it sucks starting your car at 7am and pissing off your neighbors. Not to mention it gets a bit annoying at that time in the morning on your drive to work. You could go with 12" resonators also if you want a little more aggressive sound than the 18"'s.
Exhausts really change the sound of the car and not the driving experience though. Not anything you can tell by the butt dyno anyway.
These headers flow! Im using them to push 15lbs of boost through. So your money would be better spent on other breathing mods.
No CAI on the list? I will have a set for sale soon when I change my intake piping from 2.75" to the 3". But this will for sure require a tune, but since that's your plan.........
