I had a magnaflow 12588 put on Saturday and my stock crew cab is louder than it is. I had to replace the competitor carven after getting catless long tubes and I figured any muffler would sound pretty good with the long tubes. I am a bit disappointed but from what I have read, mufflers break in and get louder. From your experience, is this true?
That particular Magnaflow is a 22" muffler.
First, no way its quieter than the Piece of Sh@t OEM boat-anchor--just not the case. That beast is big, chambered and there to keep old ladies happy.
In general on the web the muffler you installed is reviewed as "an aggressive muffler but with no drone. You will not know it is there when cruising, but it has a deep growl on take off or heavy acceleration."
Your stock muffler met none of those criteria. It was only loud on cold idle, and then it got just about silent, because RAM wants a big tent of potential buyers including grannies, and they want a muffler that will outlast your corrosion warranty.
Second, I just installed the Mufflex 24 which has a universal Magnaflow 3" in, Dual 2.5" out at its core with the pre-fab piping welded on to exact match the install of the OEM.
With the rest of the OEM system still in place and only 5" tips added, its a night and day improvement over stock; noticeable at idle in a good way, growls as you accelerate or go WOT, but kinda fades away at freeway speed with no drone--exactly what I wanted.
Mufflex makes a 14" and 18" and the 24" I have, described as aggressive, moderate and mellow respectively in their adverts. I'd guess your 22" would be about the same as what I have--the mellow choice.
I suspect your Carven was louder than you realized and now you're in the "mellow muffler zone," which is where I wanted to be, and where my neighbors appreciate my being, if you catch my drift. And No, I don't think a straight flow muffler will change sound
much over time.
