I can't help but feel that he is trying to scam you. Please get a second opinion.

 

I will get a 2nd opinion and defer the exhaust work for now.

 

I have OEM exhaust and it is very quiet until WOT then she barks quite nicely. It looks like and sounds like you should heed the advice of the people with knowledge and go with number 1.

 

I had a borla exhaust back in the day and the cabin drone was maddening. I'd avoid them based on your initial criteria

 

Your Corvette has low miles. Too low to have bad motor mounts and a worn out exhaust, unless the mileage is incorrect. I have an 02 convertible and I had a shop do to exhaust bypass and I'm very happy with it. It gives my exhaust a nice low growl at idle and a wide open growl but not annoyingly loud ,quite quiet. Also cruising on the hiway there's no droning. Plus it only cost about $20 .In your case I'd go for a Z06 used system for about $400 and a small amount to install it. Or if you really want a stock system offer him $200-$300 including installation. He' had it a long time. IMO you're doing him a favor if you buy it.

GL

 

MaxOrbit, the motor mounts are definitely worn out at approximately 40k miles. I don't believe it is possible to tamper with electronic odometers perhaps other than installing a new control module from, say, a total wreck that had ~10k miles when it was parted out. I bought this 2003 Corvette from a used Corvette dealer in 2015. I suppose that means somebody found a wrecked C5 with ~10k miles on it, and bought the control module from the salvage operator, and installed in on my car before I bought it. Anything is possible. But frankly the car was so sparkling clean inside, outside, and underside when I bought it, that I had faith that it's ~10,500 miles was correct. I could have been wrong, but replacing the motor mounts should not be too expensive, so I really don't mind. The vibration at idle is bad enough that I depress the accelerator a tiny bit to increase the RPMs at idle by 100-200 to get it out of the resonance frequency.

I'm more upset that my Michelin Pilot Sport AS3 that I bought in June 2016, supposedly 45,000 mile tires, are all nearly worn out at only 23,000 miles. Since their 45,000 mile treat life warranty is fake (Tire Kingdom has multiple excuses why they won't honor it), I'll be replacing them with something else that is less expensive. They'll be delivered to my mechanic, at which point I will leave him the car to install the tires and the motor & transmission mounts.

On the way home I will drive on a newly paved section of US-1 and listen for loudness or rattles within the exhaust. At home I will stand outside the car while it is idling. Since the tires and motor mounts will all be new, any unusual noise would be from the oem exhaust. If bad, then I will get a second opinion from somebody who isn't trying to offload his take-off exhaust that has been sitting around in an air conditioned garage since he bought his C5 new (I think he said 2002 but what's the difference, it almost 20 years old laying on the floor maybe a mouse next or two inside the pipes or something, but hey, no rust). That's why I'm not too excited about buying anyone's take-off exhaust, even if his price were reduced by half. I suggested he auction it off on eBay instead. Meanwhile I'll save up for a new one. Hopefully sufficient funds will accumulate before my Corvette's exhaust rusts out and fall off. We'll see.