Edit 04-28-2014: "Man, do I feel stupid! I was under the car this weekend and discovered a hole in the top of the bend where the exhaust goes over the axle. The rest of that pipe from front to back doesn't have a rust spot on it, so I never suspected this! The shop that did the muffler installation/welding didn't find it either. If I had found that first, I probably wouldn't have even replaced the stock muffler.
Anyway, I wish I could edit the title of this post. The car sounds great; just like Magnaflows I've heard on other vehicles."

Old post:
Just got the Firebird back from the exhaust shop. Replaced the blown out stock muffler (entire exhaust was from a TPI car) with a new Magnaflow, and I feel like I just wasted $190.
I had never had a Magnaflow before, but after reading all the raves about them sounding so much better than the raspy Flowmasters, I really expected better than this. It sounds almost EXACTLY like the blown out stock muffler! No FM ever sounded this bad!
I was hoping to perhaps pick up a tiny bit of performance over the stock muffler, but after hearing the restrictive/tinny/raspy sound, I'm not holding any hope of that happening.
Oh well, after my daughter runs the Pontiac Nationals in Norwalk with it, she's taking it with her to her new residence, so I won't have to hear it much longer....lol!

 

The Magnaflow I installed is the best balance of sound. It sounds great, but no annoying drown at any speed. Running an offroad pipe, so only mechaism for muffling the exhaust is the Magnaflow I installed.

 

Give them a few weeks to "burn-in" ,... i know its a dumb term but you'll see

 

There's no drone. Just sounds like the old stock muffler with the split seam.
Surely the stock tailpipes can't be doing that??

 

Did you go with the 3rd 4th gen crossflow type?????
If so then that is the root of the poor sound........single in/out will ALWAYS sound better........
the ONLY thing a crossflow has to offer is 2 tail pipes.......which should not be seen anyway....

An exhaust system should be heard as you pull away from the competition, not seen by the Mustang passing you

but that's just my opinion

 

Yea, if its brand new it could take a month.

My hooker took a LONG time to break in. (Giggity)

 

86LG4Bird,

I'm sorry your not happy with your Magnaflow. But I have to thank you for posting this.

My factory original muffler has finally started to rust through at a seam. Not leaking a bunch, so I think the sound is still pretty much stock. And I love it. If a Magnaflow will reproduce that sound, or maybe a little more, with no drone, I'm in!

 

Yes, it's the crossflow. I wanted to keep the factory tails tucked up tight for the understated look. I'm not a fan of showy exhausts. I was just going for a decent sound and hopefully more free flow for better performance. Never messed with a 3rd or 4th gen before. I've always had bigger vehicles with room to do a proper exhaust.

 

How does that work? What universe do YOU live in?

 

Possibly mine? Original stock v6 land.

 

I had a Magnaflow 3" on my low 13 second L98, it was so quiet that it was actually hard to race with. As soon as the car next to me started their burnout, I could no longer hear my motor/burnout. I had to look at the tach to see what was going on. Going down the track, if I was racing a car with a somewhat loud exhaust, I had to stare at my tach to make sure I didn't miss a shift. I liked the Magnaflow because it was quiet, and I didn't like the Magnaflow because it was quiet, if that makes sense.

 

I WISH this were quieter!
Were you still running a cat? Mine's catless.

 

I have a magnaflow catback on my L69 t/a it sounds great. Is this exhaust on a LG4 car? If so that is the root of the poor sound. Nothing makes a internally stock LG4 sound good. I tried multiple setups with my old LG4 t/a.

 

It's on a Vortec/ZZ3 350. The rest of the exhaust, manifolds to tips, is from a TPI car.

 

Perhaps its the style of muffler. I am on about my 5th Magnaflow setup and with the exception of my Titan (which EVERYTHING sounds like hell on) I have been very pleased with them. The Express is very quiet with the dual in/single out 22" case magnaflow even with long tube tri-ys and high flow metallic core cats you can look right through.

I never could stand the flowmasters myself on a Y-pipe setup. At higher RPM say 4,500-7,000 rpm they start taking on a whooshing sound that sounds like a vacuum cleaner with a full bag.

 

I do believe it is peculiar to the crossflow style muffler and maybe even the stock tails with the slash cut tips.
I've heard Magnaflows on conventional dual/X-pipe setups on other vehicles and they sounded beautiful.
I'd say this post relates only to the Magnaflow factory replacement for 3rd/4th Gens.

 

WOW,
The almighty Magnaflow getting a bad review.
Priceless

 

My brothers V6 Avenger had a camaro crossflow magnaflow on it and some large 3" tips. Sounded sweet IMO.

 

I was just about to make a smartalec comment like "V6 ???....GTF outta here!"
But, honestly, I've never heard a V6 that sounded as good as that audio! - my compliments!
Every one I hear in real life that makes any noise at all, I'm thinking "Dude, why advertise that you're missing 2 cylinders?"
I know.......I'm a sound snob

 

I have the entire magnaflow system on my car, no cat with dyno don headers and y pipe, everyone loves the way my car sounds. Obviously I have the LT1 in my car and I love it. I get compliments all the time.

 

I have the dyno Don headers and dual high flow cat setup with a magna flow cat back.. it sounds fantastic.

 

Not surprised at all.

 

I have dyno dons, no cat and a 3" single out magnaflow. Sounds great. I tucked the tailpipe up nice so it looks nice and hidden from the backside. Really sorry that the OP's unhappy with them. I had the crossflow one on my old ls formula with long tubes, there is a bit of a difference, but I liked them both.

 

Man, do I feel stupid! I was under the car this weekend and discovered a hole in the top of the bend where the exhaust goes over the axle. The rest of that pipe from front to back doesn't have a rust spot on it, so I never suspected this! The shop that did the muffler installation/welding didn't find it either. If I had found that first, I probably wouldn't have even replaced the stock muffler.
Anyway, I wish I could edit the title of this post. The car sounds great; just like Magnaflows I've heard on other vehicles.

Edited original post.

 

Good deal man! I was about to say I have never heard a bad sounding V8 Magnaflow except on a Nissan.

No worries on the V6 bashing...JK...I appreciate the compliment!

Makes me think the shop that welded it never started the car in the air to check for leaks!

 

Wow, I don't know that I would have looked there either.

Glad you are a happy convert!

 

So which do I go with? A Magnaflow or Flowmaster?! I have the original 305 now, but we will be rebuilding the transmission and putting a 327 in. I will buy the muffler and have our local shop do the rest. I want her to growl at me when sitting at a light!! Thanks for the help!!

 

Sitting at a light, I think they both sound good.
If you want to attract attention when you're accelerating/making power, the Flowmaster makes more noise. Personally, I don't like the crackly/tinny sound. The Magnaflow is mellow, more of a rumble than a crackle.
Unless you're somebody that just wants "loud", I'd pick the Magnaflow.

 

Ok, thanks! I jhave been checking them both out on you tube, but goot to hear a magnaflow in person last night!! Wow!! Love the deep sound!! I agree with you on the tinny sound that comes from the flowmaster. I have also been looking into the dynamax. Do you know anything about that one? 3"pipes?

 

I can't speak for the Dynomax as in a 3rd Gen crossflow muffler, but on conventional dual exhausts with or without an X/H-pipe, the Dynomax "Turbo-style" mufflers sound very good to me, very close to the Magnaflow, nothing like the Flowmaster.

 

I love my magna flow catback, I also have a catco cat and it still sounds good IMO. glad you got it all sorted out.

 

Well, I don't have any of that emmisions stuff. The guy who had her before me took alll of that stuff off and just welded a pipe on there. I think he was pretty hard on her. I think I finally found the muffler I'm gonna get!! Gonna go with the dynomax ultra flo ss!! I finally found it in a classic industries magazine!! You guys definately gotta get one if you don't already have one!! It's awesome!!

 

As a Magnaflow dealer, I can say a few things:

1) The systems are 409 stainless steel and typically feature polished tips (in most cases).

2) They fit great and include all hardware to mount, including clamps

3) When they advertise 3" piping, they mean it. I haven't seen a situation where it necks down into the muffler (like a dynomax 3rd gen system)

4) They have a great sound - not too loud, not tinny. Of course many want a different sound, but most people like it.

5) The bang per buck is off the charts - a stainless steel system with polished tips for only a few more $ than a basic aluminized system like the flowmaster. Typicallt run about 1/2 the price of Borla stainless too.

6) They are made right here in the USA in SoCal.

 

This is off the topic that the OP started but I have to strongly disagree with your point number 3 above. The piping on one of your kits may be all "as advertized" but I can tell you that is not the case with all your kits. For a build I was doing we bought the true-dual 2 1/2" Magnaflow SS system and the pipes near the headers were half an inch smaller and also they cheated on the last section where the OD is only 2 1/4". Magnaflow told us "tough that's the kit" when we noted the issue. We reported them to the BBB and discussed returning the kit. In the end we wanted the Magnaflow mufflers and the mandrel bends so we welded in and replaced the sections that were not truely 2 1/2". Also the kit required some of the mounts to go into the body vs. the frame so we had to modify that too, I was not a happy camper.

I 100% agree they are a great sounding muffler but unless you have to have a mandrel bent kit save yourself the headache and either weld your own out of mandrel bends or have a good local exhaust shop do the work. Don't get me wrong I like their mufflers and have them on three cars but some of the kits may suck, ours did.