Dynomax v. Flowmaster... voting w/ a twist

[HAZ-Matt]

Ok, so here is the deal. I had a Flowmaster 80 going out to 3 inch chrome tips. I then put on a resonator to make it a little quieter. At any rate... last Saturday I had 3 inch pipe put in from the S-pipe back to the muffler. It is very loud... which is cool sometimes, but I think i want to get the interior noise down. So I think I have 3 options...

1. Put 3" Dynomax Bullet muffler inline with the Flowmaster. This would porbably tame it a little bit.

2. Install sound dampening material in the hatch area. I like this because it would also kill some of the other road noise, however I am not so sure that it would be effective enough to justify the weight penalty, or the cost.

3. Change muffler. This would most likely be to a Dynomax Super Turbo... although if I had more info on a Ravin that would be another serious option.

Ok, so I'm seriously considering the last option, because I've gotten a little tired of the volume of the Flowmaster. It was loud when I had the resonator. Don't get me wrong, the tone is great, but the noise is starting to get to me. It's one of the three choices above. What do you think? I don't want to sacrifice the tone too much. I've heard some bad recordings of Dynomax which turned me off, althogh Seppo Kaitainen sent me the link to Dom's recording and I was impressed. I'd like to hear mainly from those that have owned both a Flowmaster 80 and a Dynomax Super Turbo, or those that have heard them both in person. Also, if anyone has one in the Houston or Austin area, I might like to hear it if at all possible.

So, now I'll let you guys do the talking. Let's keep the discussion relevant to my three options. I don't want to get into a large argument... but I would like to know more about the quality of the Dynomax sound... as I know all about the Flowmaster 80.

[Arctc Wolf]

I'm gonna get a 3" flowmaster cat-back w/ resonator tips put on friday. I'll let you know how it sounds/how loud it is. The resonator in the i-pipe is a good idea too. I'd try the sound deadening stuff first though. The sound deadening material works really well. If you don't like the extra weight of it all, just use some on the rear fenderwells facing the front and right behind the backseat. project trans-am has an install guide that will help you, and he went all out w/ it, covering everything in the back. You can also get different thicknesses for more or less sound deadening. Next would be resonator in i-pipe of resonator tips. I don't think you should get a new muffler though.

[pgriffith]

I got a 3 inch mandrel bent flowmaster cat back. Sounds great. 3.5 inch tail pipes sound good too.

[neubie50]

I've had both flowmaster 80 and now a dynomax superturbo. I love the dynomax. It's kind of the perfect sleeper muffler. At idle it doesn't make to much noise. Pretty quiet most of the time and has a nice little rumble in the low rpms. Just wait till u mash it, it sounds awesome. Loud, deep, everything you could want from a v6. To me, the flowmaster was way to loud and got kinda raspy at the higher rpms. After having both, i'm dynomax all the way.

[99 Bird 'o Fire]

I LOVE my dynomax S.T. I've had it on for a few months now and since its burnt in, it sounds GREAT all the way to the redline!!!! soo IMO if you want a little quiter exhaust and still have a little rumble i'd replace with the dynomax..
could just be me tho..
[img]graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]

[geisencam]

So is the 80 series really noies? inside and out????????????

[BigED]

Did you guys just get the Dynomax muffler by itself or a catback? Did you notice any performance gains or just sound?

[Arctc Wolf]

I just got my 3" flowmaster 80-series exhaust put on. sounded really loud w/o the resonated tips. w/ the tips put on, it was smoother, hardly any interior noise, and when you floor it, just a deeper and slightly louder version of the stock exhaust. I say get quad resonated tips put on. you won't regret it one bit.

[toast]

Dynomax is great. Had mine on about a week and every time i drive it it gets deeper and it is starting to devolpe a nice tone. I have sound clips but not sure how to post them on hear. It is has a low rumble at idle but when you tromp on it she really comes alive. It does turn heads. :D All i have done is the muffler on the stock 2.25 I-pipe and stock converter.

[HAZ-Matt]

Ok, I would have replied Thursday night, but I had some difficulty... You can read about it in the Lounge.

First of all, I did not need anyone to tell me what a 3" Flowmaster system sounds like. I have one... therefore I know exactly what it sounds like. Sorry to be pissy (it took me forever to figure out what was screwing up this computer and that made me grumpy) but I wanted to limit the tone to strictly Dynomax discussion, or discussion relating to the three options that I posted.

That said...

Arctic Wolf - I don't know how much your resonated tips help, but they must quiet the sound a hell of a lot, like you said they do... I'm skeptical of resonated tips doing too much good... and I like the tips I have. I prefer duals (that is one tip on each side) to quad though.

So, the Dynomax people seem to be telling em that the muffler sounds great.

neubie50 - that's exactly the sort of info I needed, from a person who has owned both.

geisencam - the answer to your question is "yes." Although, it seems like mine is getting quieter... Maybe I am simply losing my hearing. It's still very loud if I mash it.

Sound dampening is losing favor in my eyes... weight, cost, etc... I'm leaning towards a Dynomax Super Turbo at the moment.... unless anyone has a good reason not to go that way. I'll also then have a Flowmaster 80 and resonator for sale for pretty cheap if that happens..

[Arctc Wolf]

My flowmaster is still burning in, and is getting slightly deeper each day, so it may be a while until I can get the true sound of the car. Eventually, I'll get a few vids up of my car so you all can hear what it sounds like. The tips are not true resonators, their glasspack's, FYI. they won't blow out though, since they're so far away from the engine and are after the muffler. Running dual tips will for sure make it sound louder and not as smooth as quad tips would. Try the I-pipe resonator and see how it sounds. Don't worry about the backpressure of any of this since 3" piping is more than enough room for lightly modded cars such as ours. I'm very happy w/ my exhaust right now. If I ever get a bigger outlet cat or headers, I'll probly wanna get a resonator put in the I-pipe to tone down the deeper/louder/"raped ape" sound of the car. Cops are already tailing me more than they used to cuz of the exhaust. Whatever you do, do it for you and not cuz someone tells you to.

[geisencam]

Thanks HAZ-Matt for answering my question. I am really glad you did that! It was very nice. Is the 80 series flows so loud that you could hear them a block away? or what? Thanks again Kevin

[HAZ-Matt]

You could probably hear them from a block away... but then again I don;t think a block is all that far. Mine sounds very similar to that clip you posted in that other thread... maybe a little better up top, but then again, I never rev mine in neutral.