Flowmaster, is the drone that bad?

[Berry79]

Looking to upgrade the exhaust on my 2019. It’s been many years since I’ve owned a mustang. The last being a 93 notch back that I sold somewhere around 1997. Back then flowmaster or magnaflow were the way to go. I think on that car I had 1-7/8” long tubes with a 3” H-Pipe and 2 chamber flowmasters. Loved the way that car sounded. I’ve been doing so much research on the current exhaust offerings and everything just sounds so raspy to me. The sound clips of the flowmasters still seem to have that deep sound to them. I know back in the day they would also drone some but, is it much worse on these coyote engines? Looking to order soon but, don’t want to regret it. Was wondering how one would compare it to the drone of the older mustangs. Or if anyone knows of some other brand that has that deep tone and not so raspy, please let me know.

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[ugstang17]

To begin with you are dealing with a completely different firing order which gives the car a different sound. Ford went back to the same firing order used on the infamous flat head V8 when they designed the Coyote. So it will have a different note than the push rod 5.0 or 2V or 3V 4.6L setups. Most aftermarket exhaust systems today are more raspy and make use of an X-pipe rather than the H-pipe which makes a less raspy note. You can find deep note exhaust. AWE has one and Solo also has one. They are catback systems and they are costly but have designed a method to cancel the drone that many don't care to hear. For me it has more to do with finding a deeper note exhaust without drone so my wife won't bitch about it. Otherwise I would care little about a little drone in the well known RPM range of 1800-2200RPM under load in the higher gears. My experience with the Magnaflow cat back system on my 13 GT Coyote was a great note but with some drone on the street series setup using the factory H-pipe and cats.

What you do with regard to the resonator has much to do with how everything will sound as well. I bought my 17 used. It has a Roush x-pipe in place of the Res and Roush axle backs. Very raspy and loud .... but I will say no drone. Going with a Solo system next week I found locally for $400 with a 1000 use on it. Is a deeper more muscle car tone.

Should have hung onto that 93. Hard to find a clean one these days.

 

[Berry79]

To begin with you are dealing with a completely different firing order which gives the car a different sound. Ford went back to the same firing order used on the infamous flat head V8 when they designed the Coyote. So it will have a different note than the push rod 5.0 or 2V or 3V 4.6L setups. Most aftermarket exhaust systems today are more raspy and make use of an X-pipe rather than the H-pipe which makes a less raspy note. You can find deep note exhaust. AWE has one and Solo also has one. They are catback systems and they are costly but have designed a method to cancel the drone that many don't care to hear. For me it has more to do with finding a deeper note exhaust without drone so my wife won't bitch about it. Otherwise I would care little about a little drone in the well known RPM range of 1800-2200RPM under load in the higher gears. My experience with the Magnaflow cat back system on my 13 GT Coyote was a great note but with some drone on the street series setup using the factory H-pipe and cats.

What you do with regard to the resonator has much to do with how everything will sound as well. I bought my 17 used. It has a Roush x-pipe in place of the Res and Roush axle backs. Very raspy and loud .... but I will say no drone. Going with a Solo system next week I found locally for $400 with a 1000 use on it. Is a deeper more muscle car tone.

Should have hung onto that 93. Hard to find a clean one these days.

Thanks for the reply. Going to check out the solo system as well. Haven’t heard of them before. Definitely wish I would have kept that car. I’ve had a few Fox bodies over the years. 87 GT, 91 GT and the 93. The pic by my screen name is the 87 GT I had. Wish I still had all those cars. Can’t believe how much the notch backs are going for now days. Mine was white with black interior. I need to find some pics of those cars. They’re put away somewhere. Those times were way before pics on the cell phones, lol

 

[BmacIL]

If you want a smoother, deeper tone, I'd go with AWE Touring. No drone and a good tone.

Or, embrace the Coyote sound (thus Corsa, Borla, FP by Borla, Roush).

 

[ugstang17]

Thanks for the reply. Going to check out the solo system as well. Haven’t heard of them before. Definitely wish I would have kept that car. I’ve had a few Fox bodies over the years. 87 GT, 91 GT and the 93. The pic by my screen name is the 87 GT I had. Wish I still had all those cars. Can’t believe how much the notch backs are going for now days. Mine was white with black interior. I need to find some pics of those cars. They’re put away somewhere. Those times were way before pics on the cell phones, lol

No problem. I can give you a better idea in a few weeks. The car goes in to be retuned and they are going to throw the exhaust on while its there being retuned.

I remember back then if you were driving a notch GT it's because all of the hatchback models were sold and you ddin't want to wait on more to come in....usually. The consensus today is that they are lighter than the hatchback...and many sought are non GT's that still have torque boxes still in good condition and are then converted to V8's. Was never in a position to own one back then. The Navy didn't pay enough, I spent too much on CC's for other things then, and I was collecting traffic tickets at the rate of about one every 18 months. So insurance was the big killer........by my own stupid doing.

 

[gixxersixxerman]

If you don’t want drone stay away of the Magnaflow.. with LTH and active in quiet mode it still was horrible with a Hpipe, better with a Xpipe but still bad. I went to the magnaflow resonated tru-x pipe and it still has some drone but now the sound is gone. I got it at a great deal but I wouldn’t buy again. One of the club members here said his Flowmaster was about the same but I haven’t been for a ride in his car, he rode in mine.

 

[choate]

If you don’t want drone stay away of the Magnaflow.. with LTH and active in quiet mode it still was horrible with a Hpipe, better with a Xpipe but still bad. I went to the magnaflow resonated tru-x pipe and it still has some drone but now the sound is gone. I got it at a great deal but I wouldn’t buy again. One of the club members here said his Flowmaster was about the same but I haven’t been for a ride in his car, he rode in mine.

You switched your stock mufflers in your active system to magna flows?

 

[Nomadic]

Looking to order soon but, don’t want to regret it. Was wondering how one would compare it to the drone of the older mustangs. Or if anyone knows of some other brand that has that deep tone and not so raspy, please let me know.

Had Flowmaster 42s/with Delta flow and H-pipe (no resonator) on my '15 GT. Came that way. Bought used. It droned a bit at lower speeds. Not one the hwy though. But it was just loud enough that I wish it was quieter especially in town. It got annoying.

Have a '19 GT base. I wouldn't upgrade my exhaust for anything. It sounds perfect IMO. Flowmaster would be my last choice too as almost certainly would get drone and be loud and annoying IMO.

 

[Bluelightning]

Looking to upgrade the exhaust on my 2019. It’s been many years since I’ve owned a mustang. The last being a 93 notch back that I sold somewhere around 1997. Back then flowmaster or magnaflow were the way to go. I think on that car I had 1-7/8” long tubes with a 3” H-Pipe and 2 chamber flowmasters. Loved the way that car sounded. I’ve been doing so much research on the current exhaust offerings and everything just sounds so raspy to me. The sound clips of the flowmasters still seem to have that deep sound to them. I know back in the day they would also drone some but, is it much worse on these coyote engines? Looking to order soon but, don’t want to regret it. Was wondering how one would compare it to the drone of the older mustangs. Or if anyone knows of some other brand that has that deep tone and not so raspy, please let me know.

I've got the American Thunder on my '18. It reminds me of driving in my Fox body cars with Flowmasters on them. As mentioned on here,the exhaust note from these cars is raspier than the pushrod cars, but you can run an h pipe instead of an x pipe and that will help.

 

[gixxersixxerman]

You switched your stock mufflers in your active system to magna flows?

Yes, it was such a good deal on the axle back... what I would do different is taking the stock mufflers to a shop and have tips put on them to fill the rear valance. The MF are active also, with a valve. But both tips are straight through, so when you close it, it barely changes.

 

[motodad]

I have the Thermal R&D; similar technology to the Solo. Sounds great. I have no drone, the cabin is pretty quiet cruising at freeway speeds in 6th gear. Very very little rasp. I too wanted that classic american V8 flowmaster thump. This was the closest I had found.

 

[kiszl]

So I currently have the flowmaster outlaw exhaust on my S550 and I have to say that I really love the sound. Down low it has a grumble that is really hard to get on the coyote engine which is why I went with it. Its really loud for being on stock headers and really sounds great however...I'm changing over to a corsa sport system because Im putting headers on the car. The outlaw system has a good amount of drone for being on stock headers and at first I didn't mind but over the year of owning it its really became a huge downside to the car. I still love to drive it and enjoy the sound however at 2K rpms in 6th gear on the highway its painful to hear. I cant really have conversations in my car while in 6th. If you don't daily drive the car or if you do but don't do a lot of highway driving then I would absolutely recommend the system. It sounds great and is almost as loud as the extremes from corsa in my opinion. However if you do do a lot of highway driving I recommend looking into another system. Hope this helps!

 

[Guard5.0]

If it’s worth it to you the ARH with H pipe nullifies the raspiness and there is no drone. The system is pricey but you’ll get as close to the guttural muscle car sound as possible. I got one of their first systems for the 15 and still love the sound.

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