Brake shims

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What are these for, anyhow? The plate between pad and piston on calipers. Just another place for things to move around?

Kinda curious. I cheaped out on the last brake job, as i figured I could reuse the stainless parts. The clips that the pad ears go into were ok but turns out that my shims are two piece affairs--a stainless part and then something that rusted away. I scrapped away that which was rotted and installed just the thin stainless bit. On one side. The other side had both shims. No squealing, brakes seem fine (not that I'expect it to have issues braking).

I wouldn't think the stainless shim would slow down heat transfer, but could it be for that too?
 
To my knowledge, they are there to dissipate vibrations/harmonics that cause brake noise.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad
Brake noise reduction. Use them.


What if they don't make noise without them?
 
Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad
Brake noise reduction. Use them.


What if they don't make noise without them?
What if ? All is good.
 
Mine are similarly optional. They had rusted and displaced, so I threw the remains away when I rebuilt the brakes and didn't replace them.

Brakes are silent, though I probably wouldn't care much if they weren't.

I don't think brake noise is an inspection fail even in the famously anal UK.
 
I've seen them rust off. There was a sign in Autozone about a recall for certain pads that the shims fall out of place and cut the rotor thru that hat. Pretty scary.
 
There are two different kinds of shims, as you noticed. The black coated ones are to dampen vibrations to reduce squeal, the stainless ones are to act as a heat barrier reducing the heat transferred from the pad to the caliper, and thus the brake fluid. Also prevents the dust boot on the caliper from getting cooked.
 
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