You are going to gain maybe 1-3hp no matter if you spend $300 or $1500 on your exhaust. The only part of the exhaust that will give you true hp gains is long tube headers. If you are going to get lg longtubes which is what I did they will come with an x-pipe. I did not want my car to sound like a high pitched european car and i studied these forums for many many long nights. I went and listened to borla's and corsa's etc. I ended up buying Flowmaster american thunder. Money really wasn't the issue but for 1/3 the price of most of the others the sound is great! Flowmaster has been the sound of american muscle for a very long time. I have a manual and at highway speeds it sounds stock. No drone. But WOT it sounds mean!! It's your money. Spend it how you will.......Which reminds me. Didn't you have some posts before about people modding there cars? Seems like you had a pretty strong opinion about doing mods to your car. If that is the case then you should reconsider!!

 

yes you have a good memory. I do have a strong opinion about people who rip open their car to install cams/headers/ anything that will obviously diminish the life of the powertrain. Still though I do want a little more power, it would be nice to beat an 08 ls3. I'm not going to do headers or a supercharger or god forbid tt's, but an intake and REAL exhaust system and an ecm tune should get me what I want I think. So I guess after that 6 months or, more like 9 months, my opinion has changed slightly.

I'm still against those who pour money into making their vette an 11 second car, or those who go out to a track just to waste gas and expensive tire rubber. I'll enjoy the cars capabilities on the road, on my way to work or my girlfriends, where I need to be burning gas anyway. You think that's what all those kids are dying for in iraq? so we can have cheap enough gas to afford needless laps around a track with our corvettes? I hate nascar sooo much.

 

Yes, we all have our pet peeves for sure!! Mine personally is the diesel performance trend. In Wyoming it seems everyone has to have these super modified diesel trucks with 1000-1500ft lbs of torque that they drive around blowing huge clouds of black smoke all over anyone and everyone in there path which when it is me with my top off or on one of my motorcycles I get soooooo irate! Want to shoot out there tires. I can see people with big trailers and such needing a diesel truck but these guys don't even have a trailer hitch on most of them!! grrrrr. I believe you should have to get a special license to have a diesel truck and prove that you need it!!! So that is my pet peeve! You have some valid points about the mods. I think to each his own but I like you wanted first of all more sound from my car which I could achieve from exhaust but after all the research I wasn't happy with the cost of the axle back systems that really had no performance gains! I tried the LG longtubes as they are argueably the best as far as hp and tq gains. After they were installed it did sound better but not quite enough. So back to the mufflers. I researched and researched. I wanted a good throaty sound but wanted to retain my cabin sound level so I could have a conversation and listen to xm or cd's without the dreaded drone! I was actually quite surprised that the Flowmasters didn't sound much different at highway speeds than the stock mufflers!! I am told that it has to do with the x-pipe? That is supposed to make the sound more mellow at cruising speeds. Nevertheless I am very happy I didn't spend way more on another system. It looks great. I got the one with the quad tips so it looks stock but sounds great. I put a vararam cai, tb spacer, the longtubes and Callaway shifter (great great mod) a thermal abs tunnel reinforcement plate and had my car dyno tuned. The ram air cai doesn't show gains on the dyno so factor that in and I am putting real close to 400hp to the ground. actual numbers was 371hp and 375 torque. better throttle response and driveability. I used to have to concentrate much more to drive it smoothly as I could barely hear the engine running and now I can drive smoothly even with the radio on. I also removed the clutch spring to give my clutch a more traditional feel. If you have any questions about my mods or want to hear my exhaust pm me and I will give you my phone number. Won't be the best audio but i can start my car and let you listen to the Flowmasters.

 

Haha yes I love the huge jacked up diesel uber trucks with their 1000 drag coefficient and gas sucking setups, might as well be pushing a big brick against the wind just to see how much gas you could possibly burn going from point a to b.

My favorite is the jacked up diesels because they always, ALWAYS have their exhaust pipe sticking out the side, so if it's jacked up and you are next to them with your window down, you get it in the face. NICE

 

Yes, and they are everywhere in Wyoming. Big jacked up super modified diesel trucks!! AAAARGGHHH

 

After 10 years of owning the same C4, I’m finally making the near future change to an 08 Z51 and probably within the first 100 miles it will have intake, headers and replacement mufflers. (need to sell the 1996 CE 398ci LT4 first) To my knowledge @ 483 rwhp it’s the highest hp C4 on the Corvette forum in daily driver trim using a hydraulic cam and 23 degree heads. It does have some exotics like a sheetmetal intake and 13 to 1 compression, but the car is incredible reliable and driveable. To get it there has literally been 10 years of R+D as it really has been a hobby.

Perhaps it’s just my style, but I would never buy a bolt on aftermarket after header exhaust. Way overpriced and if your lucky, you end up with exactly what you want. For my C4 I worked with John Bulba whom does the chassis welding for Lou G on his race cars to make an exhaust that fit my preferences. We ended up with a dual 3” system with both an X and an H-pipe, two resonators and two DynoMax mufflers using stock tips. (Not into Bling!)

The car has no cabin resonance, (I used to get headaches if I drove very far from resonance) has a very deep and powerful sound but is not excessively loud. I call it an "adult" exhaust system. On two occasions we dynoed the car in approximately 330 rwhp trim and 465 rwhp trim and there was no loss in power at all over open headers.

The jest is there ain’t nothing wrong with going to a good muffler shop and in my opinion, not a cheap copout, but the more desirable option if you put a little effort into doing it right.

 

Never seen or heard of an aftermarket exhaust making 10 rwhp. I haven't heard any complaints on the Flowmasters. Are they cheap only because they cost $300? Flowmaster mufflers have been out for years. The product can't be that cheap. We're just getting a break on the Corvette Taxes, I suppose. Just my .02.

 

IMO the Flowmasters seems to be built well. They fit well and maybe they will only last 100k? IF so I probably won't even have the car but if I do I will bolt on another set and still be way ahead of the more expensive ones. Someone brought up a good point as well. You can buy just the Flowmaster mufflers and have them welded onto your stock axle back pipes. Makes it even cheaper. Use the stock tips and pipes and just weld the mufflers on. Anyway the Flowmasters are definately a good choice. They have always had a deep throaty sound. Not too loud or too quiet?

 

Don't get a cheap exhaust, you simply will not be happy. I recommend the Borla Stingers based on your original post. They are deep, throaty and NOT obnoxious.

A great deal of forum members have this exhaust which is reminicent of the 60's and 70's muscle car sound. You won't be unhappy with them. They can be driven civily around town but when stepped on sound like a race car blasting down the road. Deep and throaty for sure.

 

Did you do it that way on your setup?
(just weld the FM muffs to the stock pipes and tips?)
I actually like the look of the stock tips and the over the axle stock pipes are not a factor. Thanks.

 

I had Borla Stigers on my 04, just got my C6 and plan on going with the Stingers again. They sound like what an American car should sound like!

 

Come listen to my car...

 

I didn't on this one but have on other cars and trucks and it has worked well. the quad tip Flowmasters really look good. I got them on ebay for $350 shipped. I think there are about 12-14 bolts and viola!! Sounds like a real car should!

 

Any Exhaust with a BIG CAM solves the problem.

Our vote is for the Corsa's, could be a little quiet (Touring) without more mods however.

 

Alot of users have the Corsa's but I believe he didn't want the high pitched European sound. I was the same way which narrowed my choices down and eliminated the Corsa's.

 

Well I hope by now you realize any of the corsa systems are out of the question, for what you want. Borla's sound great at low rpm, and I LOVE the wail at high rpm, but I think ur looking for something lower even at WOT. I'd say your best bet is the bullets, except if you add headers then it will be quite obnoxious, for your neighbors and you inside the car. If you might do headers later, try the flowmaster system. It sounds great but not obnoxious and has a low rumble. Another suggestion is just cutting off your stock mufflers and getting some magnaflow mufflers installed. This was the first thing I did with mine and the sound was very "mustangish" but not too loud. I changed them out because although I loved the "mustang type" rumble when cruising around, under WOT the sound would kind of taper off and you'd hear mostly engine roar. I wanted an exhaust that would get really loud and high pitched at WOT and the Borla's do that. By the way, forget the claimed 10 rwhp of an aftermarket exhaust, its all B.S. Spend your money on whatever is gonna give you the sound you want, be it mufflers only or a complete system....because that ALL your gonna get, just sound, no HP.