pads tight in shims...

skyrocket · Post by **skyrocket** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 2:20 pm

noticed my front left caliper was binding slightly saturday on the way home from work...

after a strip down clean up and re lude of the sliders etc (red grease) i noticed that the pads were a real tight fit in the shims...and i mean real tight!! i gave them a gentle rub with some sand paper and put it all back together.

i also did the drivers side even though there was no evidence of binding (the outer pad says otherwise)

while the brakes performed better on the test drive, and no longer binded, im still not happy with the tight pads...

there were also no shims on any of the pad faces (as on the lings diagram) but all on the springs were in place.

is it safe to file down the edges of the metal on the pads to improve the fit within the caliper??

Post by **Pushki** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 2:27 pm

Did you smear the shims with Molykote (or copper grease) when you reassembled them, or are you saying there was no shims at all?

Post by **Merlin** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 2:43 pm

Yeah file down the edges of the pad IF you have cleaned all of the crap off the carrier (calliper bracket in Pushki's pic). My Hawk pads always need filing down a bit when new to get them to seat properly.

mills · Post by **mills** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 3:04 pm

ive got spare shims that you can have dude

i may be in dudley later if you want to meet up

skyrocket · Post by **skyrocket** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 3:17 pm

no shims on the pad faces...put a smidge of copper grease on the pad rears..

spent the morning rubbing everything down on the carriers with a small wire brush followed by sandpaper, then lubed all the contact points with copper grease (red grease on sliders)

mills...still here lol...shims would be a great help but im over wolvo till late...keep hold of em and ill come get em

mills · Post by **mills** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 3:44 pm

yeah no probs bud, i'll dig out the best of my spares, think ive got a couple of sets

Post by **Merlin** » Mon Aug 13, 2012 12:41 pm

Are we all talking about the same part here? Shims being the thin metal plate that clips to the back of the pad. I can't see how the shim (or lack of) would effect braking, skyrocket mentions tight pad, the shims are meant to be very tight on the pad so they dont fall off.

skyrocket are you refering to where the pad slots into the carrier? There are metal "shim" type retainers there. The pad being very tight in the carrier would effect braking and sometimes results in the pad sticking.