Cadillac CTS-V - anybody do mods to theirs?

[jaxgt]

Gents,
We have a 2009 CTS-V sedan we use as a daily driver. Overall, a very nice car with only a few faults in my opinion (mostly the sluggish automatic transmission and low front end that scrapes far too often for a daily driver). Now that it is about to come out of warranty, I have been toying with either trading it for something new, or maybe keeping it and doing a few mods to up the HP some (is there ever too much HP??!!?).

To be honest, I haven't found another sedan that I much preferred without having to add a lot of money to a trade.

If I decide to keep it, which is what I'm leaning towards, anybody do any mods to theirs they recommend?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sinovac]

I've run plenty of them in my GT500. They respond well to the same mods as the GT500/GT: pulley, tune, intake and thermostat. The stock heat exchanger is weak, but should be fine for around town. I would love to have a wagon.

 

[GTdrummer]

I bought one of the earliest Vs in the Fall of 08---amazingly I still have it. I usually keep a DD 2 years. My 07 M5 lasted one.

The only mod I did was a corsa exhaust . Thanks to my rant they improved upon the first version.

Mine is out of warranty except powertrain. I still enjoy the hell out of it. I have about 3 people who are dying to buy it, but I see no reason to let it go.

 

[Sinovac]

https://www.lingenfelter.com/engine-packages/cadillac-cts-v-lsa-2009-2013

 

[tom46818]

I have a 2013 CTS-V is the Hennessey 700 package. All the outside emblems were removed from the car. The sound is amazing compared to a stock car!

 

[jaxgt]

As its a DD, probably wont mess much with the exhaust. A pulley and tune might be nice if they made a real difference

 

[fjpikul]

One of my buddies sent his to Hennessy for the 800 hp package. His is a stick. Waiting for the results.

 

[mmlcobra]

Lingenfelter recently did a blower, cam, heads package on my GS.
They have many options for your car and they are a class act.
Mark

 

[jaxgt]

I have a 2013 CTS-V is the Hennessey 700 package. All the outside emblems were removed from the car. The sound is amazing compared to a stock car!

Did you have them install the parts at their facility, or do locally? Is it a noticeable improvement (I probably wouldn't do exahust though).

 

[tom46818]

The installation was done at Hennessey facility. Honestly, I have not got on it hard enough yet to notice any improvements yet. On my test drive I did have another CTS-V behind me from the dealership for a comparison and I did pull away from him a little. I am excited to see how she will really perform compared to a stock car. Will post after I drive her more and give you my opinion on the performance.

Did you have them install the parts at their facility, or do locally? Is it a noticeable improvement (I probably wouldn't do exahust though).

 

[peiserg]

just my useless opinion, but hennessey wants $2500 for a pulley and tune. Seems like a crazy price. A pulley can be sourced for under $300 i'm sure. $2200 for a tune is CRAZY. Especially if it is a "canned" tune which they just email you or send into your OBD tool. UNless it comes with something else i didn't notice?? A decent tune is probably $600 ish from reputable tuner, and thebenefit over a "canned" tune is enormous. I purchased Torries canned tune, then bought his custom tune. The canned tune was fine, very conservative... but left a HUGE amount of power on the table... like 60 HP at the same boost level i think...

edit.. it does come with an intake... not sure what that would normally run money wise, but is a factor to consider.

 

[RALPHIE]

just my useless opinion, but hennessey wants $2500 for a pulley and tune. Seems like a crazy price. A pulley can be sourced for under $300 i'm sure. $2200 for a tune is CRAZY. Especially if it is a "canned" tune which they just email you or send into your OBD tool. UNless it comes with something else i didn't notice?? A decent tune is probably $600 ish from reputable tuner, and thebenefit over a "canned" tune is enormous. I purchased Torries canned tune, then bought his custom tune. The canned tune was fine, very conservative... but left a HUGE amount of power on the table... like 60 HP at the same boost level i think...

edit.. it does come with an intake... not sure what that would normally run money wise, but is a factor to consider.

To install a pulley, one has to remove and reinstall the supercharger...plus have the equipment (arbors, etc) to change the pulley. I think all places will charge this - not an unheard of value.

It's not the tune - it's the labor!

 

[DGCA]

Ralphie is correct, it's primarily the labor and then parts and the warranty that we stand behind 100%.

 

[Sinovac]

Keep it mind the superchargers on the LS motors are buried (which contributes to the heat soak problem) and not at all easy to get to, unlike the the GT500/GT. Much more labor involved like Ralphie said. The quoted prices seem reasonable to me. It's the cost of getting the car to the well known tuners that make it really expensive.

 

[MRL]

On the CTS V, ZR1, ZL1 cars you just pull the snout off the blower to swap the pullies....also a good time to install a solid blower drive coupler. It is more of a pain than say a Shelby, but still not bad. They respond very well to a simple pulley swap, cold air and a tune. You also have the option of leaving the upper alone and installing an Innovators West damper with interchangeable lower rings....a bit more money for parts up front, but this is something that can be done with minimal tools and swapping lower rings after the fact takes literally 20 minutes.

There are plenty of companies that have solid packages with very good canned tunes for these cars....Livernois and Jennetty Racing are both very good choices. I know for sure that Ted Jennetty provides lifetime support and free tune updates, and he is an LS boss......he also is one of the few GM guys that uses SCT as most use EFI Live or HP Tuners.

 

[Hennessey Performance]

I have a 2013 CTS-V is the Hennessey 700 package. All the outside emblems were removed from the car. The sound is amazing compared to a stock car!

Hi Tom, did you buy the car from Hendrick Cadillac in KC or did we do the build for you? Either way, thanks for the business!

 

[tom46818]

John,

I purchased the car from Hendrick Cadillac in Kansas City. I tried to send my other CTS-V down to you, yet after two months of waiting I was told by one of your sales men there were still 50 cars ahead of me which I thought was odd. I was originally told I would have to wait a month not two.

I was going to send my ZR1 down to you for performance modification, yet after my experience dealing with your salesman and waiting for months with no response I decided to go a different direction.

 

[Hennessey Performance]

Hi Tom, I apologize we are not able to turn around some of our builds as fast as we would like to. However, we try to be very up front about lead times and turnaround times. Right now we do have 50 builds going on at any given time. And we do complete and ship 8-10 cars per week. I wish we could ramp up to shorten lead times but we are flat out with 30 employees and a 36,000 square foot facility.

 

[tom46818]

John,

In my opinion Hennessey should to work on customer service and relations, due to my personal contact with my salesman and his manager I would have a difficult time recommending your Company to anyone for that one reason alone.

My CTS-V is amazing and I enjoy my car, yet all I wanted is for someone to communicate with me on my build.

Hi Tom, I apologize we are not able to turn around some of our builds as fast as we would like to. However, we try to be very up front about lead times and turnaround times. Right now we do have 50 builds going on at any given time. And we do complete and ship 8-10 cars per week. I wish we could ramp up to shorten lead times but we are flat out with 30 employees and a 36,000 square foot facility.

 

[Hennessey Performance]

Hi Tom, I sent you a PM last week and have not heard back from you. Please call me when you get a chance. My direct mobile number is 713-828-7676. Thanks.

John