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ejo3rd · 02-04-2012, 03:32 PM

Is anyone else experiencing brake squeal? I get it regularly when applying the brakes at low speed such as when I leave the parking garage. Fisker says this is normal due to the regenerative braking and high performance brakes. I've never experienced this in my Volt with regenerative braking or my R8 with high performance brakes. It's rather aggravating from such an expensive car.

Dutch · 02-04-2012, 10:23 PM

I'm experiencing this issue too. It's worse in cold weather and it gets less when the brakes warm up. How cold is it where you are?

My dealer told me that a lot of the Karma's they deliver have this problem. They've also experienced it on some Aston Martins in the past. I hope they can find a solution for this. It's a sound that doesn't befit a car like the Karma. All those people not already staring at the car will definitely look when ist squeals. I'm now even trying to use Hill Mode 2 as much as possible to avoid braking.

Michael · 02-04-2012, 10:34 PM

i had it on my lotus esprit (brembo brakes) also on the ferrari. People told med sport brakes and it was supposed to be like that

adam · 02-04-2012, 10:38 PM

I've had 2 cars in the last couple of years which had major brake squeal. The first was a Mercedes CLS55 AMG and the last one was a Porsche Panamera Turbo. Both of these cars are more expensive than the Karma so I don't think high end cars are immune to brake squeal.

And with both instances I was told the exact same thing from the service departments: nothing you can do about it. Many times it just goes away after you rub through certain areas of the brake pads. But it could stay. Both service departments were also happy to put it down in my service complaints for the mechanics to look at. And both times they would "clean the brakes" and put some kind of lubricant that I was told may work temporarily. It did, and the squeal came back.

Since I heard the exact same thing from 2 high end car service departments (MB and Porsche) I just assumed it was true.

I was told that ceramic brakes were an option on the Porsche (major $$$) and then you would not have any squealing.

brian · 02-04-2012, 11:18 PM

Yes, mine do it a lot when it's damp out, but it mostly goes away after 5 minutes of driving. High performance brakes like the Brembo's have a tendency to do that, unfortunately.

-Brian

Karma31 · 02-05-2012, 12:53 AM

Brake squeal has been very bad on my GTR since day one when the brakes are cold. No fix according to the dealer. it may not be a coincidence that the GTR like the Karma has high performance Brembo brakes

Karma 2012 · 02-05-2012, 01:50 AM

Mine did the same thing, especially in cold or wet weather. Kind of embarrassing. I guess it is like farting, it is normal to fart, everyone does it, some do it quietly ;-)

ejo3rd · 02-05-2012, 02:04 AM

E old school bus sound

(02-04-2012 10:23 PM)Dutch Wrote: I'm experiencing this issue too. It's worse in cold weather and it gets less when the brakes warm up. How cold is it where you are?

My dealer told me that a lot of the Karma's they deliver have this problem. They've also experienced it on some Aston Martins in the past. I hope they can find a solution for this. It's a sound that doesn't befit a car like the Karma. All those people not already staring at the car will definitely look when ist squeals. I'm now even trying to use Hill Mode 2 as much as possible to avoid braking.

It's dry and warm here in Southern California. The noise does not go away after a few minutes of driving. My wife drove home from work which is about 45 minutes away. When she opened the garage door to park I thought she traded the Karma for an old school bus. The brembos on my R8 never squeal.
Fisker suggests more aggressive braking to help eliminate the noise. I might have to look into other pad compounds if this can't be fixed by the dealer.

Dutch · 02-05-2012, 02:38 AM

My car is at the dealer this weekend for an update to software version 6.14 (which will probably get the green light on Monday). They also looked at the brakes and said they greased them to try and solve the problem. Let's hope that does the trick.

Other updates: adjustment of the rear window (which was causing some wind turbulence), better grounding, adjustments to the heat shield around the exhausts, and a small modification to the exhausts which should solve some of the noise in Sport Mode. They made the connection between the exhausts and the engine more flexible, so it resounds less.

SoCalGuy · (This post was last modified: 02-05-2012 02:22 PM by SoCalGuy.)

(02-05-2012 01:50 AM)Karma 2012 Wrote: Mine did the same thing, especially in cold or wet weather. Kind of embarrassing. I guess it is like farting, it is normal to fart, everyone does it, some do it quietly ;-)

LOL. Literally.

I haven't experienced this and I've been driving with the radio off. SoCal weather the two weekends I drove my car (about 350 miles and counting) were in the mid-50s, and it rained one weekend. I generally have been driving in Sport mode in Hill 1 and sometimes Hill 2. In most flat areas, I still keep the car in Hill 1.