Mods:
K20A2
Stock from valve cover to oil pan
RBC manifold
11" intake with velocity stack/filter combo
Tri-Y long tube header
3" Thermal exhaust
This is the RSX dyno. The dotted lines represent the 2.5" exhaust and the solid lines are 3". I see no low/mid range power loss, only gains. Quite impressive on a n/a car. And the car was dyno'd, not the engine... so yes.. Wheel horsepower.
I also said IM SORRY. I didnt realize we were just talking about just catbacks. 3" headers to 5" cat backs would be useless. But a FULL 3" exhaust vs a FULL 2.5" exhaust is beneficial, especially with bigger mods..
Anyways back to what the Original poster wanted to know.