2014+ Exhaust Systems & Mufflers

Dearmosd · January 14, 2019

Alright fellow board members. I want to start by saying I have been on this board to get info on GM vehicles and I know most of everyone has a truck but I have a Suburban....not too different so here is my question.

Magnaflow 18" (11259) vs 22" (12589)

Trying to base as much data off posts and video posts I would say that most of the exhaust sounds are great and honestly a fraction too loud for me as far a daily driver for my suburban. My goal is to gain deeper tone with about 20% more volume. Just enough so I can hear myself and know that I have a V8.

I want to keep the adaptive valve in place and remove resonator but I am concerned that 18" without resonator still might be too loud and now leaning towards the 22" size muffler.

Yes people question why keep adaptive valve in place but honestly when I manually keep the valve open I can hear a NOTICEABLE increase of ugly tone.

*SORRY* I was going to delete this post but accidentally posted it. I placed the order for a 18" muffler and will see how it is

Edited January 14, 2019 by Dearmosd
hit post when I wanted to delete

3tspapat · January 15, 2019

Why not keep the valve and the resonator and see how it sounds first. If not loud enough then remove the resonator? I be wary of installing any exhaust in a wagon or SUV until I hear it. On my Subaru, I went through many exhausts before I got it perfect. Then sold it LOL. My Tahoe droned tons and was loud, but I enjoyed it back then.

10 years ago my exhaust set up would have been perfect for me, or even on the mild side. Today I think it's on the loud side (GMPP Borla Touring). I'm going to throw on a resonator to tone it down.

Edited January 15, 2019 by 3tspapat

Dearmosd · January 15, 2019

2 hours ago, 3tspapat said:

Why not keep the valve and the resonator and see how it sounds first. If not loud enough then remove the resonator? I be wary of installing any exhaust in a wagon or SUV until I hear it. On my Subaru, I went through many exhausts before I got it perfect. Then sold it LOL. My Tahoe droned tons and was loud, but I enjoyed it back then.

10 years ago my exhaust set up would have been perfect for me, or even on the mild side. Today I think it's on the loud side (GMPP Borla Touring). I'm going to throw on a resonator to tone it down.

good advise.I asked to keep the valve and then I will ask to clamp on old over the axle/resonator combo to test sound before removing the old pipe/resonator and creating a new one without resonator

Edited January 15, 2019 by Dearmosd

Rich7930 · January 15, 2019

20 minutes ago, Dearmosd said:

good advise.I asked to keep the valve and then I will ask to clamp on old over the axle/resonator combo to test sound before removing the old pipe/resonator and creating a new one without resonator

I tried the “keep the factory flapper” with a aftermarket muffler that claimed “no drone” however the 4cyl sound was horrible so I think our factory muffler also plays into how it sounds in 4cyl...I went with a cat back system from Solo Performance and I couldn’t be happier, sure there is still a bit 4cyl noise but not bad at all...Solo incorporates a J pipe before their muffler to deal with drone and it works very well.

Dearmosd · January 15, 2019

44 minutes ago, Rich7930 said:

I tried the “keep the factory flapper” with a aftermarket muffler that claimed “no drone” however the 4cyl sound was horrible so I think our factory muffler also plays into how it sounds in 4cyl...I went with a cat back system from Solo Performance and I couldn’t be happier, sure there is still a bit 4cyl noise but not bad at all...Solo incorporates a J pipe before their muffler to deal with drone and it works very well.

I was curious what that J pipe was

Rich7930 · January 15, 2019

7 minutes ago, Dearmosd said:

I was curious what that J pipe was

Picture attached explains it, basically an adjustable closed end pipe that keeps the drone out with magic haha but it really does work you adjust it based on your final gear Rpm/speed on the freeway and adjust it till you hear little to no drone, mine came pre adjusted with the kit

3tspapat · January 15, 2019

wow pretty cool! I just made an appointment to throw a resonator on my GMPP Borla tomorrow. We are headed to Vegas this weekend. Any drone or flapping from the truck will be 10x worse because it will be combined with flapping from the wife's mouth and kids in the back seat!

Dearmosd · January 15, 2019

Interesting design they don't have anything listed for a Suburban

jdaddy33 · January 16, 2019

On 1/14/2019 at 9:03 AM, AFVet2670 said:

I went with Borla Catback exhaust with rear exit on my 2016. Installed in about an hour in my driveway on jack stands. Word of wisdom, drop the spare tire when removing the stock exhaust if you do it in one piece. Makes it much easier.

Which Borla system did you go with? GM Version, or Direct from Borla (touring, s-type, or atak?) Sound good?

AFVet2670 · January 16, 2019

2 hours ago, jdaddy33 said:

Which Borla system did you go with? GM Version, or Direct from Borla (touring, s-type, or atak?) Sound good?

They were direct from Borla (actually found on Amazon and ordered) They are the S-type and sound great. Very pleased with the look, the quality and the sound

3tspapat · January 17, 2019

Back like 10 years ago, the quality of borla was so much better (I think goes for most things). Super clean welds and all. Absolutely shocking to look at, something I would rather put on my wall and look at than under a vehicle. It's still very good today, but definitely not where it's at many years ago. Yesterday had a stock resonator put on before the my GMPP Borla muffler and after the flapper. Definitely toned things down a bit. I felt my system was pretty loud for something that is supposed to be between the touring and S models. I know someone with a 6.2 had installed an XR-1 muffler in the same location. I didn't want to shell out that money and also the stock resonator mated perfectly at 2.75". In the distant future, may go back to the stock pieces and replace the muffler with a magnaflow.

Dearmosd · January 19, 2019

does it matter were the resonator/adaptive value is located? Just replaced muffler on my 2018 Suburban and I think the level and tone is what I was looking for. The down side is I was not able to add the exhaust tip I wanted since the stock pipe/resonator after the muffler didnt allow me to add the 16" dual exit exhaust tip.

So my thoughts were to find a resonator with shorted length and and have my exhaust guy incorporate the new smaller length resonator in between the muffler and exhaust tip or just redesign the placement of the valve/muffler/resonator more inline under the body of the vehicle so he has all the room to bend new pipe over the axle and place the new exhaust tips exactly were I would like them to be.

Or jsut see if he can add a new resonator before the valve.

So my question is there a rule of what order the parts need to be in? Can I place the resonator before the valve?

300 Blackout · January 20, 2019

I just got two Borla Pro XS mufflers 3” in/out to quiet down my true dual exhaust and long tubes from speed engineering. The speed engineering is all polished 304 stainless with very clean TIG welds. Looks top notch. The Borla is brushed 304 stainless with MIG welds, splatter and unmatched seams between the two “identical” mufflers I purchased. I’m not thrilled and was quite surprised at the lack of attention to detail from Borla.

The sound of the speed-engineering long tubes and true dual exhaust, axle dump and no cats is just awesome. Loud, aggressive and deeper than my microphones can pic up. I added the Borla’s (spliced in between the engine and the SE mufflers) to help quiet things down, particularly at cold start.

Well, the Borla’s certainly sound good too, but the exhaust is far from quiet (kind of expected that). There might be a 5-10% volume reduction during cold start. Idle is deeper. Low RPM range sounds like a deep thump each time a cylinder fires. The truck sounds like it has an aftermarket cam. Awesome.

The downside, as most already know about axle dumps, the drone inside the cab is substantial. Ironically, the Borla’s made the exterior exhaust note deeper but the drone pitch seems to be higher compared to just the speed engineering mufflers. I’m making my daughter wear ear muffs (yeah, it’s that bad anywhere above 1800rpm). For anyone who doesn’t understand drone vs an awesome sounding exterior exhaust note, drone is the vibration of your truck’s body and frame in response the the exhaust sound waves. It creates a unique, and unpleasant, sound inside the cab (similar to the sound inside the fuselage of an airliner when flying).

The additional deep bass also wakes up anything that is capable of buzzing inside the cab. Reminds me of when my friends had big subwoofers and things would buzz when the bass hit.

The sound outside the truck is completely different than inside the truck. I could listen to the outside sound all day long. Inside the cab, however, is something I need to address. The next step for me is going to be sound deadening the interior of the cab and chasing down the rouge buzzers. This will also help reduce road noise from my tires.

All in all, it’s totally worth it to me. The truck sounds fantastic! Videos simply can’t do it justice. It’s not obnoxious to my ear. No rasp. No hollow tin sound. Just pure deep cylinder thumping.

3tspapat · January 22, 2019

On ‎1‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 8:23 AM, Dearmosd said:

does it matter were the resonator/adaptive value is located? Just replaced muffler on my 2018 Suburban and I think the level and tone is what I was looking for. The down side is I was not able to add the exhaust tip I wanted since the stock pipe/resonator after the muffler didnt allow me to add the 16" dual exit exhaust tip.

So my thoughts were to find a resonator with shorted length and and have my exhaust guy incorporate the new smaller length resonator in between the muffler and exhaust tip or just redesign the placement of the valve/muffler/resonator more inline under the body of the vehicle so he has all the room to bend new pipe over the axle and place the new exhaust tips exactly were I would like them to be.

Or jsut see if he can add a new resonator before the valve.

So my question is there a rule of what order the parts need to be in? Can I place the resonator before the valve?

On my 2018 Sierra, the set up goes from flapper to muffler to resonator then tail pipe. On the GMPP borla it's flapper to muffler to tail pipe, which I've swapped and now is flapper, resonator, muffler, tail pipe. It seems that for different years, the location of the flapper differs from before muffler or after muffler. The resonator is always before tail pipe. The exhaust guy who installed the stock resonator back on the borla system felt that the resonator would be best in front of the flapper, but with the borla system, there isn't any room before the flapper so he placed it between flapper and muffler. Of course there would be differences as far as placement/order, just not enough to make a large enough difference in note/tone or flow. MAYBE noticeable drone