Which is louder Flowmaster or Aerochamber?
 

I'll be doing LT's and exhaust here in the next month or so and was wanting to know which muffler was louder. I will either get the Hooker catbak with the Aerochamber or the American Thunder. I know the Flowmaster doesn't flow as well and all that, but I really like the way they sound on my friend's LT1. Is the Hooker about as loud as the Flowmaster or alot quieter? Everyone has a different opinon of "loud", but I am wanting a back to back comparison from someone who has had both or heard them in person. thanks


Jason

The flowmaster is louder especially inside the car

Well I've heard both many times on the LS1, so take it from someone who knows...The Flowmaster muffler is definitely louder at idle and cruise as compared to the Hooker muffler (FM is also deeper/droanier)...The Hooker cat-back that my friend (black_knight) on this board used to have on his otherwise stock LS1 Formula was nearly stock quiet while idling and barely noticeable inside the car at cruise. And it wasn't all that loud at WOT either. Although I do think the Aerochamber has a better tone with LT headers (and FM sounds better behind manifolds). But don't pull the cats off or it'll get raspy and sound like $hit though IMO (especially with the Flowmaster).

I guess it all just depends upon what you want to do with your car (i.e. performance, cats/offroad pipes, street/strip set-up, tone/volume levels, etc.).

I love the tone of the Hooker cat-back on my LT1, but I'm actually ditching it for a Flowmaster or Borla since it's just way too quiet at idle/cruise for me...

Mike

I have to disagree with the flowmaster sounding shitty with out cats. It is probably one of the loudest sounding catbacks for the money. I had it on for three years, w/and w/out cats. There is not a huge difference w/out cats although it did sound a bit better to me. Very loud and hallow medium deep sound. You might try what I did. Look at (anyone ever tried this) thread. The flowmaster is def. not the master of flow and does take quite a bit away from the car compared to my new set up.

I like the way my flowmaster sounded when i got it. All i have is the 80 series muffler and i loved the way it sounded. I hollowed out my cats and i like it even more. It defiantely loud enough. Its not over doing it but its sounds even better with hollowed out cats.

I really like how my friend's 94 T/A sounds with shorties and no cat with his flowmaster, so I'm not worried at all about the car sounding bad after LT's. I will be switching to true duals after engine work, but that's at least 1.5 years away.

I do have another question though. My friend who has the 94 T/A used to have a 97Z28 and he put a Flowmaster on it. It was barely louder than stock and only moderately louder at WOT and cruising. But his T/A has always been alot louder than stock, even before headers and no cat. What other mufflers from Flowmaster are available for our cars? I always thought the 80 series were quiet, but that's what comes on the American Thunder kits. Did he just get ripped off when he had the Z28 by getting some off-brand turbo muffler? Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I've been curious about this for awhile now.

Jason

The Flowmaster is louder hands down..

Most people don't like it because it doesn't flow well, but you can't deny the fact that it sounds awesome.

I say get the Flowmaster and throw on a cutout.

I had the American Thunder on my car for almost a year(stock manifolds, cats, slp ypipe), and I liked it but I knew it was holding me back. I put that catback on a my uncle's stock lt1 and it sounded a lot better than it did on my car. A LOT! I think that the 80 series muffler was designed for the lt1 rather than the ls1. The setup is a lot louder on the lt1 and it has a more defined sound. On my car it was too quiet, and only screamed at WOT. Headers do make this catback sound better. Here is a clip I saved a good while ago of a LS1 SS that had lt's, a cam, and this catback. It sounds unreal. Right click and save target as please.
http://people.clemson.edu/~jaander/V...ercatback2.mpa

The 80 series is actually the loudest from flowmaster. I have the flowmaster catalog and they say that the 80 series is the loudest and that it is designed for applications where the muffler has to be placed side ways like our F-bodies.

Did your friend run the same Flowmaster muffler on both of his LT1's? If so, what probably caused his old '97 to be a lot quieter is the dual cat set-up as compared to the single cat on his '94. At least to me and others, the single cat set-up seems to be noticeably louder...

Hooker flows much better than Flowmaster mufflers, IMO that should be of greater concern than its volume.

The 80 series may be the loudest stock replacement Flowmaster, but it is in no way, the Loudest Flowmaster muffler..

Flowmaster Delta Force mufflers are ungodly loud.. Sound sweet though.

Yeah, I would have to say that my 10 series are a little louder than the 80 series ;)

Amen to that. It's exactly what I did.

Yeah, true. I went with the 40 series though anyway. The 40 series is a deeper tone, if not louder than the 80 series. Besides, I have a cutout that I leave open if I want to drown someone else out...oh, say, like a ricer with his Sanka coffee can muffler.

No the T/A already had the Flowmaster on it when he bought it, but it was stock otherwise. The T/A was alot louder than the Z was even before headers and no cat, so I don't think an extra cat would make that much of a difference. I do remember though the one on his Z was painted black though. Perhaps it wasn't a real Flowmaster but just a fake? :confused:

Jason

The Flowmaster with LTs and ORY sounds horrible. I couldn't replace that exhaust soon enough! The Hooker sounds (not volume wise) much better than the tin can sounding Flowmaster. If you can't tell, I really hate that muffler.

Painted black Flowmasters is just the new design they started when they started the super 40's line of muffler. Its probaly real.

Hmmmmmmmm...I personally have a Hooker behind Kook's with a catted-y, and it is quiet inside of the car. That's right...*inside* the car. Outside the car is a whole 'nother story. I let my gf drive the car down the street, and it is fairly loud on the outside.

My buddy has a Flowmaster, and to me, I think it is the best sounding exhaust you can have on an LS1 with stock manifolds and cats. He just put on QTP LTs with their catted-y, and I personally didn't like it as much anymore. It just didn't have that great sound that it had with the manifolds.

FWIW, I really don't like my Hooker either. It isn't exactly what I'm looking for, which is why I'm doing over the axle true duals in the near future. Hopefully that gives me what I'm after. Hell, if I could make my car sound like a Flowmaster with stock manifolds/cats, but keep the flow of my LTs and current catback, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Steve

Im VERY picky on the sound of my exhaust on my car and truck. I'll swap out this and change that until I get it just the way I want it. I had the Flowmaster 80 on my car for a little over a year. The first 10 months was without cats and the stock manifolds. The next 3-4 months was with longtubes and ORY. I then swapped to the Hooker catback and couldn't be happier. Everyone that heard my car before and after liked the Hooker better. Anybody that has a cam and headers, ORY setup and the Hooker catback and thinks it's not loud enough needs their hearing checked. At idle with the stock cam it was comparable to the flowmaster, maybe slightly quieter, at cruising it was a bit quieter, but at WOT it screamed. Now with the cam it's a whole different story, I wouldn't want the car to be any louder than it is. It is super sweet sounding at idle, good tone at slow to medium acceleration, good crusing volume,(no doubt it's there, even inside the car) and it really wakes up as the pedal goes to the floor. I've had phone calls at least twice where someone called me and said "Did u just go down whatever road?" They were in one case a mile away, another instance more than that, probably 2 miles. I was of course WOT, but it is not going to dissapoint you as far as being too quiet. My opinion, get the Hooker, for sound, looks, performance, and price, and don't look back.