Flowmaster Mufflers - Made In China Now

[Shwoody]

Occasionally I stop by a muffler shop that I used to work at and recently, I noticed that all the Flowmasters they've been getting in are Chinese manufactured. These are legit Flowmasters from a reputable supplier. I'm personally not a huge Flowmaster fan but I figured it might be interesting to some people. They've been an American company for so long and have been riding on that reputation.

The quality does look to be on par with the US ones and the inlet and outlets are actually made from noticeably thicker steel. Of course the price hasn't dropped at all.
Moral of the story: buy Magnaflow mufflers. Or Spintech if you're still after that hollow echoey sound.

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[Supercharged111]

Another guy from the Springs. Sweet.

 

[Shwoody]

Another guy from the Springs. Sweet.

I think I may have talked to you once before. I started that thread that eventually turned into a Monte Carlo discussion haha.

 

[Schurkey]

Thanks for that. I had no idea. I have some older Flows, and not looking for new ones--but it's nice to be able to entirely rule them out now.

Same with so many other once-reputable companies. Wouldn't touch 'em with a ten-foot pole once they sourced from China. (This assumes that there's USA, North American, or Free World competiton, of course.)

 

[Tim W]

Well this sucks. I just put two super 10s on my truck

 

[drewcrew]

Add that company to the list of companies that I will never buy from again.

 

[b454rat]

not to mention the sound is getting overrated. I had cherry bomb welded with 5" tips and sounded saweet!!!!

 

[98chevy2500SS]

Why I am not surprised. Still love their 40 series muffler though.

 

[Epic]

Well dang. I just bought a new muffler and 2 cats a cpl months ago :/ I love the sound, but when I drop my LS in, I may need to reconsider my options.

 

[df2x4]

I appreciate being made aware of this, but personally it doesn't worry me that much. I probably wouldn't ever buy a Flowmaster product anyway but that's just because I believe there are much better performing options out there. You guys who are disappointed that you just bought Flowmaster stuff and found this out, I wouldn't be too worried. IMO a lot of the Chinese product hate is unwarranted. Country of origin is not the end-all be-all to quality. Chinese companies are capable of making everything from excellent products to complete garbage, just like everywhere else. It really boils down to manufacturing and quality control in the specific factory the products come out of. Flowmaster has been around long enough that I'm sure they probably sourced a good factory in China to make their stuff.

Not trying to steer anyone one way or the other, like I said I'm not a Flowmaster fan anyway. Just wanted to chime in with some of my observations over the years working with Chinese products. If buying from USA based companies is a priority for you due to economic/social beliefs I totally get that, but not everything that comes out of China is as bad as people make it out to be.