I searched to see if anyone has posted on this before and didn't find anything so forgive me if this is old news. Before I made the decision to go to these mufflers I tried to find some impressions from others on the forum with no luck. So I took a chance.

A while back, I completely replaced my exhaust system with Midamerica Y-pipe minus precats, Catco main cat, Walker rear Y-pipe with cross tube, and Dynomax Super Turbos. I purchased the super turbos based on information that led me to believe that they produced decent performance with a somewhat mellow tone at a reasonable price. Well, as I've noticed a few people have reported, it seems that removing the precats completely changes the character of these mufflers and they are far from mellow. They were loud in all driving conditions. In fact, they would hit a frequency that would resonate some interior parts and compound the noise. After much soul-searching and numerous complaints from the wife, I decided it was time to tone things down.

I ordered the Walker Quietflows from Summit. The first thing that I noticed right out of the box was the lack of the Super Turbo's stainless exhaust pipes, with the nicely formed racetrack-shaped exit. The Quietflows' pipes resemble the stock units. Another difference, was that the inlet pipe was integral to the muffler as opposed to the clamped-on, adjustable piece from the Super Turbo. This caused some unrealized concerns about possible fit-up problems to the Y-pipe. the mufflers actually went on fairly easily (can't say the same about taking off SuperTurbo's).

I drove around with them for the past few days to try to make an honest assessment of the sound qualities. They are definitely not as loud as the Super Turbos. No more interior parts buzzing away. However, I would not describe them as quiet. They don't take the "8" out of V-8. Actually, I would say they are producing the sound I was hoping for when I purchased the Super Turbos. The V-8 rumble is still there at idle, but cut down a few decibels to a much more livable level. In normal driving, road noise now starts to intrude where once my world was exhaust tone. But, when you lay on the power, the tone is a nice, manly bass rather than falsetto. My wife hasn't gotten a ride yet, but I expect her to be pleased.

One caveat is that, with precats, these mufflers may actually be "quiet". But for my setup, I feel like I've reached a happy sound/performance/cost/marital compromise. :cheers:



[Modified by Redmenace, 9:51 PM 2/20/2002]

 

Sorry I didn't see your posts when you were asking about Quiet Flows because I went throught exactly the same thing as you a few months back.

I was not satisfied with the "quietness" of the mufflers after taking off my
Super Turbos.

I ended up stuffing one of the exhaust tips with big ***** of aluminum foil to quiet them down. Now they're bareable, but just.

I plan to reinstall a CAT (mine's gutted) hopeing to quiet the exhaust down even more.

Jake

 

I went with Walker Ultra Flows, they are polished stainless steel. They look beautiful. They have a fabulous rumble to them also. They don't make anything rattle. There is a bit of resonance for short range of RPM but it is easy to avoid. I love them! They might be a bit louder than stock but not bad. I think with the walker crossover they have helped with performance also.

 

Gregory,
I really like the sound of the mufflers you chose.They are smaller case "Hemi" muffler.
I posted about a new muffler out that is near identical to these in the C3 section a couple days ago.Went off like a lead balloon.They are call Xclerator. 1/2 the price for those who are interested.They use a new packing in the core that is used by Mercedes,Honda and others.
http://www.goerlichs.com



[Modified by mountainmotor, 6:41 AM 2/24/2002]

 

On a different note, I went with the Flowmasters on my car. I was very surprised how quiet they are compared to the Flowmaster on my LT1 Trans Am. My T/A is quite loud even at idle and has the old school V8 rumble that kind of draws attention. On my Vette, the idle is fairly quiet, but deffinately V8 and the sound gets quite a bit louder when I rail on it. Kind of the perfect balance, fairly quiet at idle and normal driving, but gets louder when you get on it.
Flowmaster is known for how loud it is, but if you get the 3 chamber mufflers instead of the 2, as on my T/A, they are quite bearable. I was expecting much louder when I bought the Flowmaster.
BTW, none of my cars have their cats gutted, I would expect this would make any muffler much louder.

Chris

 

This is the heart of the problem, I think. Once you start messing with the precats and cats, all bets are off on what sound level a particular muffler is going to produce. You either have to hear them on someone else's car with same cat setup or, unfortunately, take your chances and purchase them.


[Modified by Redmenace, 5:53 PM 2/24/2002]