VIDEO: Porsche explains why brake squeal is normal

It seems Porsche is tired of people complaining about brake squeal on their cars, and has produced a video to clear the air on the issue. If you enjoy a boatload of technical details and scientific terms, you’re in for a treat in this new instalment of “Porsche explains things.”

While the German carmaker does make some of the world’s best braking systems in the world, there are just some things it can’t eliminate entirely. In this case, it is the tiny vibrations that are generated when pressing a brake pad against a spinning metal disc.

These vibrations end up turning the brake rotor into a “speaker” of sorts, resulting in the delightful squeal everyone hears. With high-performance brakes that have larger surface areas, there’s more room for these vibrations to be produced. Throw in other factors like brake wear, temperature, humidity and long-term corrosion, some noise will still be present.

Of course, while Porsche can’t omit these noises entirely, it can do its best to mitigate them by cancelling certain squeal frequencies with modifications on the brakes themselves. As mentioned earlier, a range of factors can influence squeal generation, and it is very difficult to account for all of them.

Furthermore, Porsche places performance and safety of its brakes at the very top, ahead of noises. In short, some squealing is inevitable, and if your car’s brake pads are still in good shape, there’s nothing to worry about.

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