I love my DTS. Its a serious step up (handling wise) from full sized cadillacs of the past. It has decent power (although I want more) and it's spacious and luxurious. As I said, I would like more power, but that's an issue I addressed in the Northstar technical section. What I'd like to discuss here is handling and braking. I said it handles better than some past cadillacs and I think that's true. But I'd really like a bit more. My brother has an Audi A8L, and by comparison, that car feels a lot more buttoned down. The DTS is a bit drifty. It feels like if you toss it around too hard it'll lose it. And if it weren't for stabilitrack, this would be true. The tires are too small. It rolls too much. Turn-in is sloppy and not very progressive. What I would like to do is lower the car, stiffen it a little and put thicker sway bars on it. I don't think it'd have to ride much stiffer, to accomplish this. One thing I've been considering is borring springs and bars off of an STS but I haven't been able to find specifications on those yet. Has anyone else done suspension or brake modifications on one of these cars yet? Is anyone else interested? What do you think the car needs? Any ideas where we could go to get it?

Scott

The only input I can give is the obvious...The cars weigh nearly the same I believe So it would be a matter of wether or not the suspension components would fit....YES?

Lymann, does the DTS have the CVRSS? I dont think they do. If it does, and you want it firmer, you could probably take it to a dealer and have them reprogram it.

It does. I'm just not sure how they could re-program it. Perhaps they could use the STS porgramming? Any ideas?

Scott

Actually, if you take it to a dealer, they can play around with the computer in just about anyway that you want. They have a nifty little device called a TECHII. BTW, dont plan on buying one of these puppies, their upwards of 3000. I heard that if you want to, they can reprogram the message that says "apply brake to shift" to anything like HELLO SCOTT.

Actually, i know that on the CVRSS when the sensors go bad, then the strut goes to full stiff. So im sure that there would be a way to program that.

Cool. I'll have to call the dealer up and check it out. I'd love to stiffen up the shocks a bit. I wonder if I can get the training literature fr the techII so I can know what they're capable of doing.

Scott

Ok, check this out

http://www.vetronix.com/diagnostics/tech2/

Sweet. I didn't find pricing info on that website. Is that the same as the one that they use, or is it...like...a clone? I looked for one on Ebay, but couldn't find one. I have an OBDII datalogger (autotap) which I run on my laptop. It's good for getting info, but you can't change anything. I wonder if there's similar software which would let you do all that the Tech2 does, but on a laptop.

Scott

I know there isnt pricing information, but i have a VERY GOOD source that told me that it was that much. They use that one. I dont think there is anysort of software that could do that, because the dealers would be using that!

hmmm. I'll have to see if I can befriend a service tech at the local dealership and get them to do some re-programming work on my car. I'm going to look through my Helm's manual in a minute and see if it has any information about that.

Scott

Actually, you can do some of the stuff through the OBD on the car. All that information is in the service manual. I dont think you would be able to play with the struts on the OBD, but you can do various other things.

Keep us posted on this.. It sounds really interesting...

The Tech 2 is not what you think. The dealer uses proprietary software that allows the Tech 2 to re-flash the module using "pre-existing" profiles from the GM database. These profiles are put together by engineers to address specific drivability concerns. So the Tech 2 just performs the re-flash, it doesn't have the capability to allow the tech to go in and play around with all the different settings. To be honest, GM doesn't trust the techs THAT much to give them that kind of access.

If you want to check out the sway bars to see differences/similarities, I would suggest going to the parts dept. and having them look up the bars you're interested in. They USUALLY include dimensional info which you could use to see whether the parts are bigger, smaller, or the same size. I would think the DTS and STS might have the same thickness bars already but you never know. I'd also compare different years.
One thing that I think might give you EXACTLY what you want is to check out the W20(livery sedan), and V4U(coachbuilder chassis) suspension parts. These tend to be heavier than the std. parts, and will fit perfectly.

Katshot,
Thanks for the info. It's very helpful. I hadn't even thought about using those other parts. I'll definitly check into it. I should be stopping by my caddy dealership later this week, so I'll stop into the parts department and ask. Again, thanks for the help.

Scott

From what i understand, in OBD you can change anything the computer controls.

Probably differnt for obdII, though.........

Wes,
Sorry dude but someone gave you some wrong info.
OBDI, just like OBDII requires special software to manipulate most items. There ARE some items that GM has allowed techs to "play" with but they are mostly driver "convenience" items.
Most anything that directly affects driveability can only be changed with the Tech2 through the use of specific flashes that can be loaded into the PCM by the tech selecting them from a GM database. These flashes are just listed by driveability concern.
Example: Customer says the car feels "flat" after cold start, in VERY cold ambient temps. The tech goes into the database and sees if there is a flash that addresses the issue. If so, he selects it, loads it into the customers PCM and gives the car back. Hopefully this flash "pleases" the customer. In the flash, the GM engineers may have fattened-up the A/F at lower ambient temps, or possibly given slightly more IGN Advance. Sometimes these flashes make the car run noticably better, sometimes not. Sometimes they can have an adverse affect on MPG, or overall performance but they DO correct the issue which prompted the complaint.

That clears some things up. But isnt there a way to change anything on the computer, whether it be through a TechII or some sort of other device.