For those of you blessed with sub-standard hearing, this may be difficult to understand. Your ears probably don’t perk up when the fridge starts buzzing because the icemaker came on or when an office light fixture’s pulsing/vibrating signals its eminent demise. Not the most useful superpower, perhaps, but I am sure it came in quite handy when we slept in caves and had to stay vigilant so as not to be devoured by bears.
In modern times, however, an acute sense of hearing has lost most of its life-saving attributes. In fact, what once was an asset seems to have turned into a liability. In today’s society, we are surrounded by noise (a.k.a. noise pollution). Most would agree that a Harley Davidson thundering down the road is loud. Now imagine if you had sensitive/good hearing – it’s positively earsplitting. Other instances of annoyingly loud conditions include movies, bars, live music and riding a motorcycle with a full-face helmet and wearing earplugs.
This affects my sense of enjoyment when it comes to automobiles as well. As much as I am an enthusiast, I am not enthusiastic about tire noise, road noise, wind noise and engine noise. In fact, a muted exhaust note is the only thing I am interested in hearing when driving a car.
As you can imagine, I don’t take kindly to any rattling, whining, buzzing, droning, pulsing, and vibrating. Noises that other’s can’t hear drive me batty. I try to identify every single one, research them in online forums and devise ways of eliminating them. This rarely works, as I tend to break all the plastic connectors and then can’t reassemble my car.
Dealers are quick to point out that the “bumper-to-bumper” warranty does not include rattles. When they do humor me, they can rarely duplicate the noise (or so they say). I will admit that many rattles and especially buzzes are speed and temperature dependent.
Here’s a winning business idea. Someone should offer rattle elimination services. I would gladly pay $50/rattle. As of this afternoon, that’s $200 for anyone who silences my car.
Recent Comments