Louder / Aggressive Sound 2015 Silverado

joemeigs8 · July 7, 2018

I’m looking for a louder/ more aggressive sound on my 2015 Silverado 5.3L V8. I know very little about exhaust and I am looking for some help. Do I need a whole new exhaust system or will simply a new muffler do? I just want a decently aggressive sound, nothing crazy loud. I’ve been looking into Flowmaster, like the 40 series muffler. Also if I was to buy an exhaust system or muffler, I wouldn’t feel comfortable installing myself so could I just take it to a shop and ask them to install or will I need to go about ordering through a shop in the first place? Any help will be much appreciated, exhaust is one area in trucks I know very little about. Thanks guys.

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wforrest08 · July 7, 2018

If your only after a little sound I personally wouldn’t bother with a whole system. If your planning on more Performance mods later then it might be worth it. On my 015 I had a local well established trusted exhaust shop cut the muffler/flapper/resonator off (mine is 5.3L/V4 delete tuned) and replaced with a 50 series Flowmaster then they used factory pipe over the axle to build a dump behind the axle (per my request). I told the shop what I wanted sound wise they put the truck on the lift and had me come out and listen to 4 different mufflers to choose the sound I wanted. Also said they retain as much of the factory pipe as possible because it will last as long if not longer than their replacement pipe anyway. I went with the 50 because it sounds good under a load but is relatively quiet while cruising as I to didn’t want anything to loud. I’ve ran this set up for over a year now and I still happy with it, no drone at any speed, can hear it when I want, quiet when I don’t, and was less than $350 all in. In your case a super 44, or series 40 would be a better choice sound wise a super 10 IMO would be in your obnoxious range, but you have many other options as well. The owner of the shop is a authorized Flowmaster dealer but also stocks the “knock off” Flowmasters and according to him they are built just as well if not better than the real ones and will last as long. Said he cut a 40 and a knock off 40 side by side and compared them he sells the knock off for 50ish bucks less.

If you choose to delete the flapper (exhaust valve that increases back pressure in V4 mode) you will get what’s called “helicopter” mode ( chopping noise) in V4 mode with some mufflers/cat back systems but not all. Some guys say it’s very noticeable some say not so much. If your not looking to tune your truck or run a Range device (plugs into your OBD2 port and stops the truck from going in to V4) and like V4 you’ll either want to avoid a set up that causes helicoptering or leave the flapper somewhere in the system. In this case I guessing a Flowmaster 40 series delta flow might be a good choice as it’s 4 cylinder compatible?

There is some good exhaust threads on here with lots of ideas. Read some Google search works better for this site than the search feature on this forum. IMO

https://www.google.com/search?q=2015+silverado+exhaust+forum+site:www.gm-trucks.com&prmd=svin&ei=_BDFWsrKCYLWjwS9hIZg&start=0&sa=N&biw=834&bih=1073

Some guys are happy with just a muffler delete/leave the resonator and vica versa. Cheap and if not happy your not out a lot to change to something else. Some guys replace the muffler and leave the resonator which IMO is counterproductive as the resonator is basically a flow through muffler in itself.

Youtube is your friend some guys post videos inside the cab let’s face it that’s where we’re listening. I’d suggest finding similar exhaust setups from different posters as some sound different with different mics/creative editing.

Look up a guy named Matt Earle he has posted like a hundred different exhaust setups on his 015 Silverado most of his vids include cold starts to drive bys. Nice to hear different options on the same truck. Also Kirk Robinson which is Kinneys Exhaust out of Texas has a lot of good vids/options especially if your at all interested in true duals.

Nasty · July 7, 2018

Afm and resonator delete and a muffler of your choice. Id stay away from blowmaster and carven myself. im really liking black widow mufflers

joemeigs8 · July 7, 2018

If your only after a little sound I personally wouldn’t bother with a whole system. If your planning on more Performance mods later then it might be worth it. On my 015 I had a local well established trusted exhaust shop cut the muffler/flapper/resonator off (mine is 5.3L/V4 delete tuned) and replaced with a 50 series Flowmaster then they used factory pipe over the axle to build a dump behind the axle (per my request). I told the shop what I wanted sound wise they put the truck on the lift and had me come out and listen to 4 different mufflers to choose the sound I wanted. Also said they retain as much of the factory pipe as possible because it will last as long if not longer than their replacement pipe anyway. I went with the 50 because it sounds good under a load but is relatively quiet while cruising as I to didn’t want anything to loud. I’ve ran this set up for over a year now and I still happy with it, no drone at any speed, can hear it when I want, quiet when I don’t, and was less than $350 all in. In your case a super 44, or series 40 would be a better choice sound wise a super 10 IMO would be in your obnoxious range, but you have many other options as well. The owner of the shop is a authorized Flowmaster dealer but also stocks the “knock off” Flowmasters and according to him they are built just as well if not better than the real ones and will last as long. Said he cut a 40 and a knock off 40 side by side and compared them he sells the knock off for 50ish bucks less.

If you choose to delete the flapper (exhaust valve that increases back pressure in V4 mode) you will get what’s called “helicopter” mode ( chopping noise) in V4 mode with some mufflers/cat back systems but not all. Some guys say it’s very noticeable some say not so much. If your not looking to tune your truck or run a Range device (plugs into your OBD2 port and stops the truck from going in to V4) and like V4 you’ll either want to avoid a set up that causes helicoptering or leave the flapper somewhere in the system. In this case I guessing a Flowmaster 40 series delta flow might be a good choice as it’s 4 cylinder compatible?

There is some good exhaust threads on here with lots of ideas. Read some Google search works better for this site than the search feature on this forum. IMO
https://www.google.com/search?q=2015+silverado+exhaust+forum+site:www.gm-trucks.com&prmd=svin&ei=_BDFWsrKCYLWjwS9hIZg&start=0&sa=N&biw=834&bih=1073

Some guys are happy with just a muffler delete/leave the resonator and vica versa. Cheap and if not happy your not out a lot to change to something else. Some guys replace the muffler and leave the resonator which IMO is counterproductive as the resonator is basically a flow through muffler in itself.

Youtube is your friend some guys post videos inside the cab let’s face it that’s where we’re listening. I’d suggest finding similar exhaust setups from different posters as some sound different with different mics/creative editing.
Look up a guy named Matt Earle he has posted like a hundred different exhaust setups on his 015 Silverado most of his vids include cold starts to drive bys. Nice to hear different options on the same truck. Also Kirk Robinson which is Kinneys Exhaust out of Texas has a lot of good vids/options especially if your at all interested in true duals.

Awesome man thanks for the info.

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btj_z71 · July 17, 2018

On 7/7/2018 at 12:43 AM, joemeigs8 said:

I’m looking for a louder/ more aggressive sound on my 2015 Silverado 5.3L V8. I know very little about exhaust and I am looking for some help. Do I need a whole new exhaust system or will simply a new muffler do? I just want a decently aggressive sound, nothing crazy loud. I’ve been looking into Flowmaster, like the 40 series muffler. Also if I was to buy an exhaust system or muffler, I wouldn’t feel comfortable installing myself so could I just take it to a shop and ask them to install or will I need to go about ordering through a shop in the first place? Any help will be much appreciated, exhaust is one area in trucks I know very little about. Thanks guys.

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Easiest and cheapest way is to just cut off the exhaust after the 3rd cat, and then do a straight pipe or y-pipe ( my choice). By doing this, you are deleting the muffler and the resonator, but leaving on the cats. This is the most natural or true sounding exhaust you will get. This is what I did to my truck, here's a video of it: