xXAvroArrowXx
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2014
- Posts
- 199
- Reaction score
- 56
- Ram Year
- 2014 Ram Sport CC
- Engine
- Hemi 5.7
I thought I'd post up a review of the Boesch Built 14" Magnaflow Kit. I'm the kind of guy that researches everything to death especially when it comes to upgrades for my toys, one of which is my 2014 CC 5.7 Sport. I'm pretty picky about stuff and I'm a details oriented sort of dude. I started my search for an exhaust with the objective to find the best quality and performing bolt in exhaust I could. Why bolt in? I also don't like permanent mods. If I decide I don't like something, I want to be able to completely undo it, and go back to factory condition. So, that rules out any sort of weld-in installation, bolt-in it is.
I wanted something that sounded aggressive when I wanted it to, but subdued when going easy around town. There's really two reasons for this, 1) I travel with my family pretty much every long weekend, so I didn't want to make my truck unbearable for long road trips. 2) The Po-Po. The fine gentlemen of the police service around here have been known to pull over and cite loud exhausts.... I needed something that could slide under the radar when I cruise past the Po-Po.
So, it came down to basically four options that are out there that are direct fit, bolt-in:
1) Flowmaster 50 Series P/N 817568:
2) Mufflex with the 14" Magnaflow P/N DOD14M:
3) Hottexhaust with the 14" Magnaflow P/N DODGE14M:
4) Boesch Built with the 14" Magnaflow P/N DR-2
I based my decision making process on sound of the system, quality, then price. So off to YouTube to spend hours upon hours listening to all the video clips out there. It's hard to tell from YouTube, but I immediately leaned towards the Magnaflow over the Flowmaster, as the Magnaflow sounds more deep and mellow over the Flowmaster that sounds to me more crackle-y. One strike against Flowmaster. My neighbor across the street has a Chev with a system, until now I hadn't really analysed the sound of his truck on start up... but one morning I heard it, and it definitely had a crackle sound with higher pitch to it... so naturally, I wandered over and asked if I could peek underneath his truck... Flowmasters. I elected not to tell him that I wanted to see what he had because it's what I don't want and went back to YouTubing Magnaflow.
On to price, I immediately found out that the Flowmaster is $349 all day long just about everywhere I looked. While Mufflex and Boesch Built are equally priced at $263.45, and the Hottexhaust coming in at $278.45. Googling of each immediately pointed to quality issues and poor customer relations at Hottexhaust - apparently the issues are that your tips won't sit even with the HotExhaust kit and the customer relations can be spotty. What gets me too is that HotExhaust has identified their kit very closely in P/N to the well known Mufflex kit. Google search for Mufflex's P/N will take you to the HotExhaust Site. A bit misleading to say the least, not good business sense in my books. Further Mufflex has a statement about "a company selling inferior products with their P/N". Knowing that others on this forum have had negative experience with the HotExhaust kit, I'm going to have to say Mufflex is talking about them.... Then I come to Boesh Built. #1 its a small home-grown family run operation out of Michigan. I contacted them through their website and got a reply from Matt Boesch himself. This is a big plus for me. I prefer supporting small business, and find that nearly every time you get way better support from the little guys than you get from the big operators. Further, Boesch Built use 304 stainless while the other three use 409 stainless. "What's the difference?" You ask? Not all stainless is corrosion resistant. 409 WILL tarnish fairly quickly, and WILL (slowly) corrode over time. 304 has a higher nickel content that makes it much more resistant to corrosion. Sure the Magnaflow muffler is 409 anyway but dollar for dollar between Mufflex and Boesch Built (no cosideration to HotExhaust... they're sketchy IMHO) I'll take the higher spec material please. Add to it that I'm supporting a small family run business from the good ol' U.S. of A? Sure, support the little guy, and support domestic products when you can, says I. <clicky to read more about Boesch Built Here>
At the end of my exhaustive (hahahah Pun!) search I'm going with a Boesch Built DR-2 (14" Magnaflow Kit) based on the above. I'll update this thread when it comes in.......
I wanted something that sounded aggressive when I wanted it to, but subdued when going easy around town. There's really two reasons for this, 1) I travel with my family pretty much every long weekend, so I didn't want to make my truck unbearable for long road trips. 2) The Po-Po. The fine gentlemen of the police service around here have been known to pull over and cite loud exhausts.... I needed something that could slide under the radar when I cruise past the Po-Po.
So, it came down to basically four options that are out there that are direct fit, bolt-in:
1) Flowmaster 50 Series P/N 817568:
2) Mufflex with the 14" Magnaflow P/N DOD14M:
3) Hottexhaust with the 14" Magnaflow P/N DODGE14M:
4) Boesch Built with the 14" Magnaflow P/N DR-2
I based my decision making process on sound of the system, quality, then price. So off to YouTube to spend hours upon hours listening to all the video clips out there. It's hard to tell from YouTube, but I immediately leaned towards the Magnaflow over the Flowmaster, as the Magnaflow sounds more deep and mellow over the Flowmaster that sounds to me more crackle-y. One strike against Flowmaster. My neighbor across the street has a Chev with a system, until now I hadn't really analysed the sound of his truck on start up... but one morning I heard it, and it definitely had a crackle sound with higher pitch to it... so naturally, I wandered over and asked if I could peek underneath his truck... Flowmasters. I elected not to tell him that I wanted to see what he had because it's what I don't want and went back to YouTubing Magnaflow.
On to price, I immediately found out that the Flowmaster is $349 all day long just about everywhere I looked. While Mufflex and Boesch Built are equally priced at $263.45, and the Hottexhaust coming in at $278.45. Googling of each immediately pointed to quality issues and poor customer relations at Hottexhaust - apparently the issues are that your tips won't sit even with the HotExhaust kit and the customer relations can be spotty. What gets me too is that HotExhaust has identified their kit very closely in P/N to the well known Mufflex kit. Google search for Mufflex's P/N will take you to the HotExhaust Site. A bit misleading to say the least, not good business sense in my books. Further Mufflex has a statement about "a company selling inferior products with their P/N". Knowing that others on this forum have had negative experience with the HotExhaust kit, I'm going to have to say Mufflex is talking about them.... Then I come to Boesh Built. #1 its a small home-grown family run operation out of Michigan. I contacted them through their website and got a reply from Matt Boesch himself. This is a big plus for me. I prefer supporting small business, and find that nearly every time you get way better support from the little guys than you get from the big operators. Further, Boesch Built use 304 stainless while the other three use 409 stainless. "What's the difference?" You ask? Not all stainless is corrosion resistant. 409 WILL tarnish fairly quickly, and WILL (slowly) corrode over time. 304 has a higher nickel content that makes it much more resistant to corrosion. Sure the Magnaflow muffler is 409 anyway but dollar for dollar between Mufflex and Boesch Built (no cosideration to HotExhaust... they're sketchy IMHO) I'll take the higher spec material please. Add to it that I'm supporting a small family run business from the good ol' U.S. of A? Sure, support the little guy, and support domestic products when you can, says I. <clicky to read more about Boesch Built Here>
At the end of my exhaustive (hahahah Pun!) search I'm going with a Boesch Built DR-2 (14" Magnaflow Kit) based on the above. I'll update this thread when it comes in.......
