I am looking to purchase a new muffler (only muffler, not a full exhaust system) for my 05 f150 (5.4l) I want to keep it basically stock, but I would like a mild exhaust tone added, I am wondering who makes something that is NOT loud and arrogant, just something with a nice mellow performance tone, I have a friend that tried what I am looking for, he purchased a flowmaster 70series and is was alot louder than he was banking on, how are the magnaflow or dynomax? (this is just single exhaust.)

 

That would be WickedFlow, in the MAX series. Has a great sound, but a lot mellower than Magnaflow or Dynomax, and it is built to last longer. The warranty on the WickedFlow covers sound. This is what I use myself, and my vehicle is far move vulnerable to droning. I get no droning at all. I already know from experience that the Magnaflow was terrible for droning.

 

I have listed here a muffler shootout test done by CAR CRAFT:

The Mufflers
MAKE MODEL Part No.
SUMMIT Turbo 630125
THRUSH Magnum Glasspack 24214
THRUSH Boss Turbo 17718
HOOKER Competition 21006
DYNOMAX Super Turbo 17733
DYNOMAX Race Magnum 24215
HOOKER Super Competition 21106
SUMMIT Fully Welded 630325
FLOWTECH Afterburner 50322

MUFFLER FLOW TEST

MUFFLER Flow at 28-in H20
DynoMax Race Magnum 528.64 cfm
Thrush Magnum Glasspack 507.40 cfm
Summit Fully Welded 343.38 cfm
Flowtech Afterburner 342.20 cfm
DynoMax Super Turbo 333.94 cfm
Hooker Competition 232.46 cfm
Hooker Super Competition 320.96 cfm
Summit Turbo 331.16 cfm
Thrush Boss Turbo 297.36 cfm

MUFFLER Idle dB WOT dB
DynoMax Super Turbo 89 123
DynoMax Race Magnum 94 133
Flowtech Afterburner 92 124
Hooker Competion 92 122
Hooker Super Competion 90 125
Summit Turbo 89 124
Summit Fully Welded 92 125
Thrush Boss Turbo 90 123
Thrush Magnum Glasspack 92 128

DYNO TEST
All mufflers were dyno-tested on a 355-cube SBC with 10.0:1 compression, Air Flow Research 190 aluminum heads, a CompCams 292 hyd. a Victor Jr. intake, a Holley 750-cfm double-pumper, and 1 5/8 Headman headers.



While there are mufflers that will out flow a glass pack design, it also depends on the design. Does the glasspack use "louvers or perforations" - Louvers reduce the flow by as much as 50% but Allied resonators (that sell for $20-$40) each are very mellow (moderately deep tone, low rumble) and available at any muffler shop) installed backwards in independent test flowed 90%+ of a "race spec muffler". Others using other brands consistantly showed similar results

 

Every muffler in that list is loud. Not exactly a mild muffler. Here are some sound clips of the WickedFlow MAX mufflers.

This is a sound clip of the louder 13" muffler, but as this clip shows, it is still quite mild
<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid585.photobucket.com/albums/ss293/albusplaustrum06/Truck/clip1.flv">

And this is the quieter 18" muffler

http://www3.telus.net/jmarling/P7100172.AVI

There is also a 22" muffler that is quieter still.

 

Every muffler on that list may be loud,but their not gonna be loud on that style ford.My buddies 06 ford is straight piped with all the cats and it's barely noticeable maybe 3db louder than stock.

 

thanks for the info so far what I have found in researching, is that most guys seem to aim toward the Dynomax Super Turbo as the most mild, does that sound right? I am also wondering about the Flowmaster 50Series BigBlock, it is their quietest muffler, but after looking at a couple trucks on youtube, they still seem pretty loud, I dont know if these trucks had the cats removed or not. I am keeping mine in for now, so I assume that will make quite a difference, even if the muffler itself was loud. (Like 97FRD1TN said.)

 

Remember, those test were done on vehicles w/o cats...cats on the Fords (OEM) absorb about 70% of the noise/db's.

 

That much? didnt realize that. good to know

 

The Super Turbo is fairly quiet and does have a smooth sound, but is basically built like an OEM muffler, little real world improvement, exhaust does not like changing direction. There is little sound absorbing material, the sound deadening is being accomplished by the design of the muffler. The WickedFlow is a straight through type that is very good at absorbing sound. They are very quiet. The first video above is the smaller size, the smaller the muffler, the louder it will be. The individual was happy with it, though not as loud as he expected. The 18" size is much quieter, if you listen to the video, its got a growl while he's accelerating hard, as soon as he lets off, it goes almost silent. There is a 22" one as well that is quieter still. I run an 18" on my van, it is the quietest performance muffler I have ever used, while the tone is deeper, it is quieter than stock.