Tuning the Cadillac CTS

"Cheers for reading our Cadillac CTS tuning guide."

We review CTS tuning and provide tips on the best modifications. Cadillac CTSs make a good tuning project and with the right sports upgrades you can dramatically increase your driving experience.

The CTS is a brilliant car tuning project to play with. Sit down first and research CTS tuning to save yourself making the usual common mistakes we regularly see.

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Improving the handling for people often first priority in your CTS tuning project.

Good suspension tweaks that often benefit handling for the CTS include a couple of degrees negative camber and 1-1.5 degrees of toe in or out on the front wheels. Toe in for stability, or Toe out to improve cornering. It would also pay to improve the brakes, by adding larger discs and or higher friction pads..

We suggest that you fit modified suspension and lower the car by 27mm - 35 mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with uprated suspension.

Don't just look at the peak power figures, you need to see the whole torque curve when determining if a mod is right for you CTS.

Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. Engine swaps are a good option if you have a small engine size.

Engine Tuning.

First generation (2003–2007)

• 2.6 L LY9 V6 (gasoline)
• 2.8 L LP1 V6 (gasoline)
• 3.2 L LA3 V6 (gasoline)
• 3.6 L LY7 V6 (gasoline)
• 5.7 L LS6 V8 (gasoline)
• 6.0 L LS2 V8 (gasoline)

Second generation (2008–2013)

• 2.8 L LP1 V6 (gasoline)
• 3.0 L LF1 V6 (gasoline)
• 3.0 L LFW V6 (gasoline)
• 3.6 L LY7 V6 (gasoline)
• 3.6 L LLT V6 (gasoline)
• 3.6 L LFX V6 (gasoline)
• 6.2 L LSA V8 (supercharged gasoline)

Third generation (2014–2019)

• 2.0 L LTG Ecotec i4 (turbocharged gasoline)
• 3.6 L LFX V6 (gasoline)
• 3.6 L LGX V6 (gasoline)
• 3.6 L LF3 V6 (Twin-turbocharged gasoline)
• 6.2 L LT4 V8 (supercharged gasoline)

CTS-V Second generation (2008–2014)

• 2004–2005: 5.7 L LS6 V8
• 2006–2007: 6.0 L LS2 V8

CTS-V Third generation (2016–2019)

• 6.2 L LT4 V8 (supercharged gasoline)

These mods sports kits are usually carried out by our members, decide how far you wish to go in your tuning project before you get going.

Getting the best modified upgrades for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 motor sport parts just don't work well on the road difficult in stop start traffic.

Please watch our introduction Video tutorial to car tuning. Be sure to subscribe and support our new channel.

Modifying to Stage 1:

 Lighter flywheel, Panel air filter, Remap, Sports exhaust, Suspension upgrade (drop 27mm - 35 mm.), Alloy wheels.

Modifying to Stage 2:

 fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, high flow fuel injector, Ported and polished head, Power/Sport clutch.

Modifying to Stage 3:

 Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing, Competition cam, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Sports gearbox.

Your aim when tuning the engine should be a nice flat torque range. You want to avoid sending all the power to be at the top end unless you are creating a motor sport car.

The whole aim of our hints is to give a starting base of modifying upgrades and point you in the right direction, our forum is best place to go if you need more detailed advice and tips on your tuning project, the best uprated modifications and all aspects of modding cars.Fast road cams offer one of the biggest bhp gains for your money as far as a stand alone modifications goes on a NASP engine.

It maximises the intake and exhaust flow and increases the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a remap. TorqueCars would caution you not to go with a competition cam as this affects the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.

When pushing up the power you will need to increase to the fuelling. More power needs more fuel.

Frequently power losses, and erratic idling after sports parts are done can usually be traced to fuel delivery or timing issues. Increasing the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel.

Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned CTS's uprated injectors.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Please note that WE DO NOT RECOMMEND INDUCTION KITS, unless you have tuned your car massively and are finding that the standard air intake has become limited.

Derestricting the flow of air into the engine is a primary goal of tuning so get a freer flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean only if you find the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound great but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not add noticeable power and actually rob you of power.

Do not go with the widest exhaust you can get this will slow the exhaust rate - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Getting a professionally polished and ported head with larger valves can fully maximise your power gains. Your clutch can lose you loads of power as you increase the power if it starts to break and the standard clutches are only ever good for power gains of up to 48%. Fit a competition clutch to avoid power loss through the transmission. The best mods in our experience for your CTS are a remap especially on a turbo, a fast road camshaft and sports exhaust, with a good air intake.

NASP engines do not achieve big power gains if you remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A remapped turbo will give massive power gains and take full advantage of the strength of the block.

We've also come across some owners toying with twincharging conversions and making some very high power hikes.

Despite the large cost involved adding forced induction to a NASP engine will give large power gains. Turbos are generally harder to add than a supercharger. With a turbo the boost curve is related exponentially to the engine speed making it harder to map.

It is more straightforward to map a supercharger because the boost is correlating to engine speed on a linear curve. Alternatively you could install water injection to cut down knock.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Because alloys are lighter they improve performance and they will help to cool the brake disks. We can't go into too much detail here about tires but they are how the car puts the power down on the road so are a critical choice. soft compound tires work well on CTS, and make a big difference over budget tires. Please note although they can look cool on the CTS big alloy wheels will actually decrease your performance. The larger you go the lower your acceleration will be - this to the change in your effective final drive ratio.

Due to this fact aim to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the standard factory sizes. In all cases not going over 18 inches.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss CTS options in more detail with our CTS owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Cadillac tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which mods work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually updated.

This article was written by Waynne Smith on TorqueCars, and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Cadillac. You can leave a response below or join TorqueCars forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.

Check out TorqueCars new YouTube channel, and see their awesome new content...