setters in the Exception class?

Hello, I am consuming some Java provide webservices. In some cases we get SOAPFault instances, that I would like to massage a bit, since I do not like the structure or format in the generated SOAPFault (for example it does not set the error code properly). However since there are no setters, I have to create a new Exception instance. So I am wondering if it makes sense to add some setters to the default Exception class to make this sort of thing possible without creating a new Exception instance ..? regards, Lukas