vmaniac

In what should not be a surprise to anyone, the official Cadillac position on the wheel hop is: "Cadillac considers the wheel hop to be a normal characteristic. That is the way the car was designed. Since there is no problem there is no repair available (through Cadillac)"

I am stunned that a manufacturer would intentionally design a high performance luxury sedan with such severe wheel hop that it is possible to permanently damage the drive train. Wonder if a damaged rear end will be covered by the warranty?

On balance, the V is still a great car. Sadly, it could be a nearly perfect vehicle without the wheel hop.

I'm hoping that some enterprising, reputable company designs a cost effective solution so that we can all enjoy some "abnormal driving characteristics."

Also, for those of you who feel as though this is a real problem, please visit your Cadillac dealer and call the Cadillac national service line (800) 333-4223 and make your concerns known. That's our only hope!

cvp33

Amen brother. While I love 90% of what the V does and doesn't do under severe duty the wheel hop or axle tramp is really its achilles heel. All that power and it just can't keep its *** planted. What a shame.

The other disappointment is the inability of anyone to back up the performance claims. 0-60mph is advertised even in the most recent issue of R&T at 4.6 seconds. Yet MT, R&T, C&D and Autoweek have not been able to get below 5.0 seconds. The engineers claim that the car was "speed shifted" to achieve these numbers. Speed shifting a car that has wheel hop as severe as the V does not bode well for half shafts and u-joints.

66ImpalaLT1

It probably needs different rear shocks and/or different alignment settings.

C5's are pretty bad about wheel hop, especially when they get older and the shocks start to wear out.

eswolfgang

iTrader: (1)

Most likely some change in tires/ shocks or springs would cure the problem, although maybe something more drastic, before I departed with my V I tried a few different burnouts with the car, Twice I reved up to 6000-6500 rpm then dumped, in the Corvette this means burnout forever, but the CTS-V burned out for like a second then began to hop, at that time I pressed the clutch in, It felt as though the tires were causing the wheel hop, maybe this should be someones first try to fix?

BIGBOS

There was a V in our shop today, completely cracked the rear casing in 1/2, looks like he tried to launch it pretty good, clutch was in excellent condition though....

TriShield

Damn.

Are you paying attention aftermarket? FIX THIS!

MorePerformanceInc

We changed our rear shocks and noticed a big difference. We are in the process of making available to our customers this new shock for performance. It should be available within a few weeks once we do more drivability testing on it.

BIGBOS

Shocks should help, they should really move those control arms in the back up from where they are now

WhiteDiamond

Ah, glad to see that GM hasn't changed too much...This is where GM will end up screwing themselves even though they could possibly become a leader in the luxury high performance sedan area(the LS2 or LS7 has so much potential for more power and just plain smoke the new V10 M5).

Todd

ATX Rider

I work for GM Marketing Support and the # that vmaniac provided is to us(Marketing Support). We give product info, locate and help dealerships with various things, give incentives, etc. to potential customers. If you went to a dealership and test drove a CTS-V and experienced the infamous wheel hop yes, do give us a call so we can make a note. Now if you currently own or have owned a CTS-V and want this to be hopefully taken into consideration by Cadillac, call Cadillac Customer Assistance. They deal with people who own Cadillacs. The number for Cadillac Customer Assistance is 800-458-8006. I think letting them(Customer Assistance) know gives it a better chance for this to get to the guys in Detroit, which I'm pretty sure it already has. As of right now, I don't know if they're going to fix the wheel hop issue but I can say that there will be some new colors on the 05 CTS-V. Red Line Red and Stealth Gray. And a new interior color Light Gray. I hope they have an auto available. I sure wish I could drive one. They had one on display at work but of course I wasn't going to have the honor of taking it for a spin. Ahh, one of these days. I've owned a couple 300ZX TTs and they have wheel hop problems also. The way to fix it on the Z is with some subframe spacers(http://www.capitalzoftexas.com/techtips/). Not sure on the CTS-V.

cvp33

ATXRider,

Thanks for the new number I'll be giving them a call to report the excessive and abusive wheel hop as well as the V's inability to perform the 4.6 sec 0-60mph sprint as advertised as well as the tire smoking video on the Cadillac website. GM needs to step up on this one and admit that the car does not perform as advertised and cannot until the axle tramp is corrected.

Also, I thought the new colors were delayed due to part delays. My understanding is that all Red Line and Stealth Gray orders had to be changed to Black or Silver otherwise they would be cancelled. Has this changed in the last 7 days? Please advise.

Thanks,

ATX Rider

Damn the wheel hop must be pretty bad huh? I guess I need to take a ride in one to get a feel for it myself. Your're right. Cadillac.com does indicate that it does 4.6 and 13.1. How does the traction control work? Pretty good? As far as the colors go, I was going off the most up to date info I have at work. If someone called wanting to know what the new colors were for the 05, that would be what I would tell him/her. Not sure if this has changed according to another source but this is the info I'm getting at work when I read up on what's new for the 05. The new for 05 info does indicate though that Red Line Red will be available at an extra cost. Sometimes it seems like we don't get ALL the info on what's going to be new on the next model year or what the changes will be. Main reason being because most of the upcoming models haven't actually gone into production yet so things can be changed. For example, on the Duramax Diesel 6.6, the original engine was an LB7 that was having alot of problems in 04 so around January-February, they started putting in the new LLY engine in all the HD pickups. I only know this because of the calls I've received from people asking if the new Silverados/Sierras are going to have the new LLY engine or if I can help them find an 04 with an LLY. When I look ay my info at work on what is going to be new for 05 on the pickups, the info have doesn't indicate whether or not the engine will be changed/revised. And of course we can only give info from approved websites. Not allowed to use info from 3rd parties ex. Car and Driver, Truckin, etc. And sometimes the guys in Customer Service might know more about what might be changed. They're the ones who have access to any recall info on GM vehicles.

WhiteDiamond

Good luck...Tell a GM service department you cannot perform the smokey tire burn out and they will void your warranty for abuse. Don't laugh too hard, a good friend of mine has a C5 and went to a dealership for a leak in the tranny. They found small bits of rubber in the wheel wells and denied warranty on it......When it comes to GM service, I am very negative and I am surprised very little with the crap that comes out of most of the visits. I still love GM vehicles, I just hope mine isn't the one that has to visit service. The Caddy dealership has been the best of all the GM service departments to date, though. I got a twenty that says Cadillac addresses the wheel hop in future models and denies all issues with the first year models.

Todd

ATX Rider

I know for a fact like you mentioned that Cadillac division does take that extra step for Cadillac Customers. For people interested in buying a Cadillac(XLR or CTS-V) they have the option to work with a Cadillac Personal Assistant to help them throughout the purchase process. The only other division that has this is Hummer. The Cadillac Customer Assistance line is distinct in its own way and is separate from the other divisions. A Caddy Customer Assistance Rep only does Cadillac. The rest do all the other divisions together. And of course this is because its a Cadillac! If there was a huge suspension problem on a higher volume selling vehicle such as the Deville for example, I bet the problem would be taken much more into consideration.

Vettin Man

I'll let you know how mine works out. I shattered the rear end on mine last Thursday night. It's at the shop right now to be fixed. Don't anticipate any warranty problems but this is GM so who knows. Didn't do anything too unusual with the car, just tried to make a performance car "perform", it DIDN"T!!

HPSFlorida

I didnt split the rear like you did ya animal but i did spit the right output shafy out of the center section at the track trying the launch it hard like my corvette. needless to say the CTSV luanched all of 4 feet and right on to a flatbed. The dealer fixed it in 2 days and had it back to me with no warranty problems or questions. you shouldnt have a problem.

Be sure to test drive once you get it back and listen for a rear gear whine around 45 mph. mine has done it ever since the breakage. cant seem to get rid of it.

good luck

cvp33

Mine has the whine and has never been opened. This has been explained as a harmonic resonance. Most V owners on the caddy forum have posted about this. It's not a deal breaker, but there is definitely a hum or howl in second gear at a specific rpm range.

02Hawk502

I've driven the 3 CTS-V's I've PDI'd at our dealership, and all of them have had incredible wheel hop. I read *somewhere* (can't remember) that GM or a magazine tried different, all weather tires, and almost eliminated the hop. One of my friends here in town owns an '02 Z06 with the Eagle F1 Supercars (OE on the V), and has the same wheelhop issues as well. I'd be interested in trying some different tires in person, but my boss didn't want to spring for different tires just for experimentation reasons

ls6caddy

Joined up just to reply to this post.

I assume you work at a dealership. You have apparently driven 3 brand new cars (not yours) hard enough to experience the wheel hop. I will be sure not to recommend your dealership for new car sales or service.

WhiteDiamond

What, you think this is uncommon...??? Yeah, sure. This goes on at many dealerships and especially when a new "performance" vehicle gets introduced. If you want to make sure yours isn't driven, you have to do like a friend on mine. Have the dealership call when the truck arrives and watch every move(if not, he walks on the deal).

Todd