My car is a 2007 and has 65,000 miles on it. I have the following exhaust setup:

Factory exhaust manifold -> 3" ZZP downpipe w/ Magnaflow high-flow cat -> OEM resonator -> 2.5" tubing -> factory muffler.

It's not really LOUD, but it's deep and droney. It sounds just like my Cavalier did when the muffler had a hole in it, lol. The muffler actually has rust on the outside and there is a rattle in the exhaust sometimes when I get around 3,000 RPM, so I've just chalked it up to the internals being worn out.

Trust me when I say there are no exhaust leaks. lol

Has anyone else had to replace their factory muffler yet?

 

who would want the factory muffler haha?

 

Someone who doesn't like to listen to flatulent 4 cylinder exhaust noises while driving their car.

 

my car had a similar setup but with no cat. I just recently removed the stock 60k mile muffler and replaced it with a dynomax and it changed from being a
to a sweet rumbling, drone-free, performance exhaust.

when I took the muffler off I shook it around and there were definitely many loose pieces of metal chunking around inside.

 

Damn mufflers.