Cars mean many things to many people—a way to get around for some or an outlet with which to experience the thrills life has to offer for others. And though it takes true masters like Ferrari to make a lion’s sex roar a byproduct of gasoline combustion, other more offensive noises emitted by a cars cannot be engineered out of existence. Take brake squeal for example. High performance brakes tend to be larger and therefore have a greater ability to reverberate high-pitched sound waves.
That’s fine on the race track where the pathetic-sounding squeal of rugged brakes is drowned out by adrenaline and downshifting flat-sixes, but on the surface streets of Beverly Hills or Rodeo Drive where appearances are the lifeblood of the underlying social order, unsexy is sin.
Apparently Porsche found that out the hard way: through complaining owners. In a rare form of apology that’s taken a friendly PR-diffused tone that only Porsche could muster, the sports car manufacturer decided to release this video explaining to its customers why even the best engineers in the auto industry cannot get rid of brake squeal. It all boils down to the balance between performance and daily drivability. Admittedly, Porsche and its competitors have done a wonderful job making it so that owners have to make very few concessions when driving their vehicles out in public, but this is one that even the company responsible for the 959 or 918 Spyder can’t solve.
