I've put about 1,500 miles since the install and they've gotten a little bit better. I think these cars are also insulated a lot better than my last one which was a 98', so you don't think that they are very loud. A friend of mine who was driving beside me not too long ago said they sounded great even when he had his windows rolled up. I'm still not completly sold on them but I guess they will do. Hope that helps VRFlip.

 

Cool! Thank you. I think that's what I'm going to go with. I don't want mine too loud, but would appreciate a little more rumble. Thanks for the follow up.

 

the biggest difference is going to be in the midpipe taking out the cats, that will make the biggest improvement in loudness.
if you got the manaflow mufflers, they will be quiet, maybe a little louder than stock, the magnapacks are louder.
to get the exhaust exactly how you want it will take time, trial and error.

 

give it a little bit of time to break in. i have that same mufflers but with the magnaflow midpipes and it has a nice mild level of sound. i might get high flow cats/ X to open them up a little

the cars are very well insulated - swap cars with a friend or stand on a sidewalk & have someone make a few passes in front of you on the street

 

I have the MAC axles backs, $340, not real loud much, much better though than stock, stainless steel totally, shiney, only thing is the 60 mpg drone in 5th, but great sound if i stay away from 60 in 5th, what would be compatible to these without 2,000 rpm drone?

 

I think it's all about individual "expectations" of what your exhaust should sound like.

I have about 150 miles on my MagnaPacks and I love them. I originally bought the FordRacingParts M-5230-GTC and had those for about a month. Those were deeper than stock but only a little louder. I wanted something significantly louder. So I got the Magnapacks (16574) and they are IMO quite a bit louder than stock. In fact, slightly embarrassing when starting cold in the morning thinking about the neighbors. I had my friend drive the car by me as I stood on the road side, both normal driving and hard acceleration and they are definitely much louder than stock (both in the cabin and outside). Their sound is more deep and not raspy like some exhausts. They have a nice gurggle when decelerating (revs below 2000). Occasional backfire heard when cold and shifting from 1st to 2nd.

My whole family said they are quite a bit louder than the FordRacing exhaust.

There is some drone at around 1800 to 2000 but only noticed when on the freeway and trying to accelerate up a grade without downshifting first. The sound and feeling of the drone is definitely annoying, but it only happens under the above circumstance for me so far. The FordRacing and the stock muffler had zero drone (in comparison to these).

The FordRacing exhausts had really beautiful looking tips on them. Not just larger, but the edges were nicer and the inside tapered very nicely. More expensive looking design then the MagnaPacks tips. The Magnapacks are not as large as the FordRacing, but probably larger than stock (I don't really remember what stock looked like). That was the one downside of switching to the Magnapacks from the 5230-GTC's.

The other day a very tricked out Saleen Mustang (probably around 2003 vintage) pulled up next to me in the gas station and that was the loudest Mustang I have ever heard. Harley-Davidson loud. He must have a complete exhaust (probably off-road stuff). Can't imagine it would be street legal in California. I would definitely be embarrassed to drive that car. But he probably loves it. To each his own.

 

Cool! Thank you the 1800 to 2000 @ 60 is what i don't want, you say annoying, compared to mine, if 1 to 10 scale, 10 real annoying with windows up or down, mine is 8, radio cranked drowns out. where would you put yourrs, also does not sound powerful at that time, bogged down? any magnapacks weigh in please, how about drone on ford racing?

 

GTJT2010,
People are going to react differently to drone. Some people hate it and some love it. For me, rating how annoying the drone is when it's happening...its about 6 out of 10 for the Magnapacks, and 1 out of 10 for the FordRacing M-5230-GTC cuz I didn't really notice any drone. I probably could have, though, if I really tried to hear it. But overall, I don't really have a problem with the drone of the Magnapacks because it doesn't happen that often.

BTW, I have a 3.73 rear axle so I believe my speed in 5th gear will be slightly lower than with the normal 3.31 rear axle at a given rpm. Maybe that is a reason why I don't run into the drone zone very often.

 

If you decide to swap them out, get MAC Boomtubes. There's no way you'll be disappointed then.

 

+1 on getting boomtubes