so as of now ive got si/do system that i had installed by a local shop 3 years ago after i bought my truck. from the y after the cats i have 2.5 inch into a flowmaster super 44 then dual out to rear side exit out like the factory on the passenger side and same on the drivers side.

i love the way it sounds could be a bit deeper and a little louder but for the most part good, up until about a month ago i believe i have a busted baffle in the muffler whenever i accelorate it makes a real nasty rattling sound from inside the muffler. im just currious on what would be the best quality and affordable route to get the sound i really want?

btw i have an edge evo that i run on extreme, which you can also tell the difference in sound with the programer on

 

Well FM's do offer some mufflers in stainless now, if your dead set on buying another. This would also be a good time to expand your muffler horizons to something a bit more exotic. IMO, the sound of the exhaust can make or break a car/truck. Flowmaster's usually break it for me.

 

I will say that I have NEVER been a fan of FM mufflers but I found a great deal on a cat-back from Summit Racing a few years ago. The plan was to replace the FM muffler with a Maggie at some point.

I finally replaced my two year old 50 Series FM with a Magnaflow 5x11x22" muffler. I decided to shake the FM once it was off the truck and you could hear the corrosion rattling around inside. A quick glance inside the FM and you could see heavy corrosion on the deflector plates.

The Maggie sounds like the OEM muffler at start. It has a definite growl at WOT and does not pop when revved at Idle. There is NO drone at 65 mph (1800 rpm's) and NO drone at 70 mph (2K rpm's).

 

Put a bullet in there and smile.

 

For reference, WyoTech, Hot Rod Magazine has numerous published articals on this. On the net, please read:

broaderperformance.com/muffler_flow_tests.htm (Independently tested cfm flows of the more popular mufflers, glasspacks and resonators @ 15” wc:
2 ½” diameter straight pipe 521
2 ¼” diameter straight pipe 365
2” diameter straight pipe 283
2 ¼” diameter tailpipe 268
2 ¼” round glasspack- no louvers 274
2 ¼” round glasspack- with inward punched louvers 133
2 ¼” round glasspack- inward punched louvers/installed backwards 141
2 ½” inlet/outlet Dynomax SuperTurbo 268
2 1/4” inlet/outlet Thrush CVX 260
2 ½” inlet/outlet Flowmaster 2-chamber 249
2 ¼” inlet/2 ½”outlet Cherry Bomb turbo 249
2 ¼” inlet/outlet Flowmaster 3-chamber 229
2 ¼” inlet/2 ½”outlet Maremount Super C (OEM Replacement) 149
2 ¼” inlet/2” dual outlet Maremount 183
2 ¼” inlet/outlet California Turbo 229
2 ½” inlet/outlet Hooker Aerochamber 324
2 ½” inlet/outlet Hooker MaxFlow 521
2 ¼” inlet/outlet Maremount Cherrybomb Vortex 298
2 ½” inlet center/outlet offset Borla Turbo 373


I have listed here a muffler shootout test done by CAR CRAFT:

The Mufflers
MAKE MODEL Part No. COST
SUMMIT Turbo 630125 $14.75
THRUSH Magnum Glasspack 24214 $16.50
THRUSH Boss Turbo 17718 $23.95
HOOKER Competition 21006 $25.95
DYNOMAX Super Turbo 17733 $28.50
DYNOMAX Race Magnum 24215 $31.95
HOOKER Super Competition 21106 $35.95
SUMMIT Fully Welded 630325 $38.69
FLOWTECH Afterburner 50322 $39.95

MUFFLER FLOW TEST

MUFFLER Flow at 28-in H20
DynoMax Race Magnum 528.64 cfm
Thrush Magnum Glasspack 507.40 cfm
Summit Fully Welded 343.38 cfm
Flowtech Afterburner 342.20 cfm
DynoMax Super Turbo 333.94 cfm
Hooker Competition 232.46 cfm
Hooker Super Competition 320.96 cfm
Summit Turbo 331.16 cfm
Thrush Boss Turbo 297.36 cfm

MUFFLER Idle dB WOT dB
DynoMax Super Turbo 89 123
DynoMax Race Magnum 94 133
Flowtech Afterburner 92 124
Hooker Competion 92 122
Hooker Super Competion 90 125
Summit Turbo 89 124
Summit Fully Welded 92 125
Thrush Boss Turbo 90 123
Thrush Magnum Glasspack 92 128

DYNO TEST
All mufflers were dyno-tested on a 355-cube SBC with 10.0:1 compression, Air Flow Research 190 aluminum heads, a CompCams 292 hyd. a Victor Jr. intake, a Holley 750-cfm double-pumper, and 1 5/8 Headman headers.


MUFFLER HP TORQUE 2,500-6,000rpmAverage
Hooker Competition 397.4 381.1 286.8hp/351.9 lb-ft
Thrush Boss Turbo 407.1 384.9 292.1 hp/357.5 lb-ft
DynoMax Race Magnum 409.5 394.3 298.8 hp/366.9 lb-ft
Flowtech Afterburner 409.7 391.2 294.8 hp/361.7 lb-ft
Thrush Glasspack 409.5 389.8 297.7 hp/365.3 lb-ft
Summit Turbo 411.5 386.3 291.5 hp/357.4 lb-ft
DynoMax Super Turbo 412.7 387.2 292.6 hp/358.6 lb-ft
Hooker Super Comp 413.8 387.2 292.8 hp/359.0 lb-ft
Summit Fully Welded 415.4 390.7 295.6 hp/362.4 lb-ft

While there are mufflers that will out flow a glass pack design, it also depends on the design. Does the glasspack use "louvers or perforations" - Louvers reduce the flow by as much as 50% but Allied resonators (that sell for $20-$40) each and available at any muffler shop) installed backwards in independent test flowed 90%+ of a "race spec muffler". Others using other brands consistantly showed similar results.