97sts help plz

[carlo488]

i have a 97 sts and would like to put a manual fill air shock on the rear. does anyone know if this is possible or who makes the shocks? i know i would have to bypass sensor. any help would be greatly apreaciated . i dont want to spend a lot of money on the oem ones or the after market one. just want a reg. pair of air shocks that you would put on your hot rod

[Cadillac Jim]

I've got a 1997 ETC (same suspension as the STS) with 140,000 miles on it and I'm watching my rear shocks. Replacements from Rock Auto are $582 for AC/Delco or $372 from Monroe. I plan to use the Monroes when the time comes, but others here have put on other shocks. I don't recommend it myself because you are disabling the load leveling as well as the ride-sensing suspension, both of which are used by Stabilitrak, which has turned out to be the best safety feature since seat belts -- insurance company statistics show that electronic stability control saves more lives than seat belts and air bags combined. If you do go with passive shocks be sure and get firm ones because the stability of the car at high speeds and in skids is at risk with passive soft rear shocks. Others here can tell you how to get around the electronic control with a resistor. I don't know how to get around the level control but I think it involves using a fixed resistor in place of the wheel height sensors on the rear.

I will say that disabling or compromising Stabilitrak is not something that I would do on my car. The cheapest way I know to keep it with a shock change is to use Monroes at $372 a side, though.

[Texas Jim]

I don't recommend it myself because you are disabling the load leveling as well as the ride-sensing suspension, both of which are used by Stabilitrak, which has turned out to be the best safety feature since seat belts -- insurance company statistics show that electronic stability control saves more lives than seat belts and air bags combined.

I can tell you this...I agree with you 100%.

Had an incident a couple of weeks ago....rain storm...in a hurry...driving WAY faster than I should have been, considering the conditions...hit 3 or 4 inches of standing water at about 80 MPH.

If not for the StabiliTrac...I probably wouldn't be writing this right now.

Things may change, but as of now, I don't plan to EVER have another vehicle without StabiliTrac.

[Cadillac Jim]

The last I heard, the Government was considering making electronic stability control mandatory on all cars sold in the US, like seat belts.

[Texas Jim]

There are still a LOT of vehicles being built with out ESC.

I hate that the gubmint is getting involved in mandating it, but I think it would be a good idea to have it on all vehicles. It is a wonderful safety feature.

My 2006 Chevy van does not have it.

I am really, really glad, that I was in the Cadillac and not the van the other day.

[Cadillac Jim]

If the car is built with ABS (wheel speed sensors and computer-controlled brakes) and the ABS computer is integrated through a low-latency network with the rest of the car, and essentially all of them are because of the OBD II requirement since 1995, all you need to add for ESC are some inexpensive LED laser gyros and some accelerometers and some software to implement at least elementary ESC.

Of course, if you have four-wheel ABS and suspension height sensors, plus load leveling and electronic control of damping, you can do better than simpler systems, but the most significant, first, step is inexpensive for any car currently sold with ABS.