Best exhaust system for 2018 ram 1500

texasfan88 said:

I changed my mind and plan on going with the carven competitor. Much cheaper than the corsa, sounds better, and most people say they don’t experience any drone. Even though the corsa is designed to not have any drone at all, I’m willing to tolerate a little bit of it for a better sounding exhaust.

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blackbetty14 said:

FWI, carven mufflers are not 304SS... the Pipes coming in and out are 409SS so they will rust just not as fast as steel or aluminized steel.

Stock dual exhaust is 2.25” tail pipes from the muffler back and the stock tips are 4” OD.

Any of you guys wanting more sound you will get more power from a header and ypipe upgrade than a muffler and people who spend $800-1k+ on a catback that offers almost zero performance gain is insane. If u want sound spend $100-$300 on a muffler and be done. The header and ypipe upgrade will make more sound out the stock muffler and most people who do a muffler swap put the stocker back on after headers and ypipe. Shorties and a ypipe and see what you get with stock muffler than upgrade If u want more sound. Plus u eliminate the issue of your more than likely broken exhaust manifold bolts by switching to headers.

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texasfan88 said:

I currently have a Flowmaster Super 44 muffler (muffler swap only) on my truck. It sounds great but I was thinking about swapping it out for a full cat back system sometime in the future. I've pretty much settled on the Carven exhaust (either progressive or competitor) because they both sound great, are made of the same 304 stainless as and are much more affordable than Borla or Corsa. I didn't feel like spending $1200 on a borla kit and, I'm sorry, but I'm not the biggest fan of the way the corsa sounds. Anyway, what makes the decision so difficult is the fact that there are so many different experiences on whether or not the carven exhaust causes an interior drone. Anyone have this setup on their trucks and if so, what are your experiences with interior noise primarily? From what I've read, one person could have the exact same setup as someone else and one person will say they have a ton of drone and the other one doesn't have any. It literally makes zero sense to me and makes choosing a new exhaust system extremely difficult. I've also heard that, I suppose due to the construction of the muffler, that the progressive actually has more drone than the competitor which is why only the competitor is available for the 2019 Rams.

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boblonben said:

think the best exhaust approach is go to a Flowmaster 40 - less drone than the 44 - and take off the resonators - replace with straight pipe. This is as good as any multi-hundred systems out there and will be less than $180 for the complete thing. Have run this combination on three different RAMs with the 5.7, they are great.

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texasfan88 said:

Thanks but to be honest, I’m not even remotely concerned about performance. I’m only concerned about the sound which is the reason why 99.99999% of the general public buys an exhaust in the first place. I don’t plan on adding a CAI or a tune so I can start doing some traffic light drag racing lol. It’s simply a daily driver that I want to sound good and that’s it. Most people who are serious about performance would probably just run an open header setup. Besides, unless you can get them cheaper elsewhere, a set of headers for my truck is about twice the amount that the carven exhaust costs. Also, 304 or 409 stainless isn’t going to make any difference whatsoever where I live. We never get snow and they never salt the roads so it’s not a concern. I’ve had my flowmaster super 44 on for almost two years and there’s only some surface rust on it. Unless you live in an area with extreme weather, 409 stainless will easily last you a few years.

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blackbetty14 said:

That’s fine, but why get the cat back when all u need is the muffler. Upgrading from 2.25 to 2.5” tailpipes does nothing for performance at a much higher cost can just a muffler swap. I agree that muffler swaps are perfect for more sound, cat backs on these trucks don’t really make sense.

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blackbetty14 said:

That’s fine, but why get the cat back when all u need is the muffler. Upgrading from 2.25 to 2.5” tailpipes does nothing for performance at a much higher cost can just a muffler swap. I agree that muffler swaps are perfect for more sound, cat backs on these trucks don’t really make sense.

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ilovemyramlaremie said:

Borla makes the best exhaust IMO

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texasfan88 said:

Yeah Borla is pretty damn nice I will admit. Just way too expensive for me personally.

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Rt71668 said:

Sounds sick ! What type of setup is that and is the drone bad ?

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mbryanr2019 said:

Just installed the Carven competitor. It sounds sweet.. A low rumble. But can be quiet at cruising or light throttle. Carven has a recent install/comparo vid up that I think reflects the comp sound levels etc.

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Burstingbb said:

Carven Competitor without resonators for reference. I only had drone when the resonators were on, once I took them off it went away

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxzwsRnhYuz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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texasfan88 said:

Interesting. Usually it’s the other way around. Of course, and I’m not talking about anyone on here, but a lot of people really don’t have a clue as to what drone really is. They often confuse it with the roar of the exhaust. I experience it a little bit with my flowmaster muffler.

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