arlight, well I just installed new rotors and new brake pads. when i drive, my front brakes make noises, and when i brake it gets louder. i read two previous posts where a lot of people had the same problems. however, i didn't see any replies saying what they did to fix this.

but, a lot of people said it might be the shims...that they might need to be lubricated or fit on properly. mad-machine said he took them off. i was wondering, how important are shims? i know that they protect the pads from the pistons...but would we be harmful to my car if i just completely took them off?

maybe if i took the shims off...my brakes will stop making the noises.

just let me know what ya'll think!

 

I am actually looking at taking mine off to see if it makes the noise go away. Hell whats the worse that could happen the brakes could fall off? lol.gif

 

actually.... yes... the pads CAN fall out man... i've heard of it happening before.

 

Yup, those puppies keep those pads in place. I broke one on my rear rotor and everytime I hit a bump in the road it clangs and bangs around. I've never heard about them falling completely off, though I'm sure it could happen!

 

do the shims on the front brakes really prevent the brake pads from falling off? is that their purpose?

i thought it was to protect the brake pads from the pistons...hmm...

hey ultra...let me know what yah do mang. i feel you on the noises.

 

The shims definetly don't keep the pads from falling out. I haven't had shims on my brakes since like 40k miles. I now have 115k. No problems thus far. You don't really need them. They are made to keep vibration down. I can't really feel a difference with or without them.

 

As far as I know they keep the pads in place so that there is even wear on the pads. If it moves around then one part of the pad will be doing most of the stopping. This also means weaker brakes.

Did you install new brake pads or are these both old ones??

 

NO, I replaced my front rotors with drilled and slotted with EBC Greenstuff pads. The rears were replaced with stock rotors and o.e. quality pads.



I'm pretty sure that it doesn't matter if they're there or not. I think they are only for noise. But, you should check your pads periodically for even wear with or without the shims. Plus, on a sliding caliper, there is constant pressure on the pads from the piston and the caliper "sliding" towards the piston. The pads stay in place by the little groves in the caliper.

EDITED BY MOD - DON'T DOUBLE POST! evil.gif

 

i did the same as you teamsr. i got drilled/slotted rotors for the front with ebc greenstuff too.

so the sounds should be gone after i break them in? good stuff. did you have noises coming from your brakes when you installed the new rotors/ ebc greenstuff?

i think im going to take my shims off soon and see if there is a decrease in noise.

 

did you make sure the rotors are sitting FLUSH against the hub. i had bad noise with mine, i didnt have the shims on, and turns out one of the rotors wasnt all the way against the hub.

i put the shims back on, and took a wire brush to the hub and inside of the rotor, then made sure each rotor went on all the way straight and the noise went away.