Initially for upgrading the suspension in my 2005 Cadillac CTS I wanted to go with the suspension from the CTS-V. This stikes me as a setup that is already tested and validated by Cadillac on the chassis, and is an all-Cadillac solution. After studying the various solutions available from Hotchkis and Eibach, I was leaning toward one of those, and looking at prices and shipping cost (suspension parts tend to be heavy).
Luckily I was able to win an Ebay auction for a few useful items — basically the complete FE4 suspension off of a 2005 Cadillac CTS-V:
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The auction also appears to include CTS-V shocks, although these likely will need fresh examples:
Hopefully everything is as described. At a total of $61 with free shipping it makes a nice purchase.
Next I need to nail down the testing methodology to be used to test at each step, then test my current FE1 base soft ride CTS suspension a couple of times to show consistency of results.
I think our first suspension mod step will be to swap to the CTS-V sway bars alone, then test. Based on my reading, sway bars can have the greatest single impact on handling. Swapping the sway bars should only take a couple of hours in the driveway, but we’ll see.
UPDATE — Hmm; not so fast. Apparently the seller is claiming that the auction was only for ‘free shipping’, not for the components themselves!!? So, this may turn out to be a ‘dry hole’ after all. If this does not work out, I’m back to deciding whether to go with a new Eibach or Hotchkis kit designed for the base CTS or to look for another CTS-V take-off set. The Eibach kit from AutoAnything with Free Shipping looks like a nice choice.
UPDATE 2 — Okay, I think we may be settling on a price for the CTS-V sway bars and bushings from a 2005 CTS-V, which were the parts that I wanted to try first. So, back to figuring out the best test setup to use.
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I’m curious, how did it turn out? I’m working on the same things.
Actually I got occupied with other issues and haven’t got the FE4 sway bars on yet, as easy as that appears to be. I want to do some ‘before’ measurements but have not found the right venue.
Please let me know how your project turns out.
I upgraded by 05 CTS sway bars to the V’s and it made such a big improvement on the handling.