I noticed on motorvate.ca that the guy with the how-to on front brakes had shims. Are these necessary? My 96 does not have them. Also, when I bought the brake hardware kit from Autozone, I noticed some thin wire spring-like things. My car doesn't have these either. The Chilton manual shows the shims and shim covers, and the small springs they call "pad return springs." When I replaced my front pads and rotors, I didn't use the springs and I installed the pads without shims. Is this OK, or are these necessary?

 

I don't remember installing those either. I actually forgot to. But, unless I am wrong, I believe their main purpose is to reduce squeaking and noise from your brakes. The operation of your brakes should not be compromised.

 

that's true, u don't have to put them on..but i do with some antisieze, if u buy cheap breaks they don't some with some but if u go raybestus, they would come with everything u need.

 

OK, what about the pad return springs, are they only for factory pads?

 

well if the brake pads are the same then u could reuse them, if they are different they should come with new ones. make sure u take out the 2 sliding pins out and clean them and lube them up, and then ur calier won't get jammed eather and it would slide better, and it won't squeek like mine did untill i did that.

 

what grease did you use to lube the caliper pins? I remember someone who used the wrong grease and it seized up the calipers.

 

I did regrease my sliding pins, and the brakes feel like they're working good; however, my rotors are really hot after driving with light braking. Could this mean my caliper pistons are sticking a bit, or maybe not enough/too much grease on the pins?

 

I used hi temp synthetic grease like the guy on motorvate recommends. He cautions not to use too much because that could lead to the pins sticking. Since my rotors are really hot after driving with light braking, I hope I used enough. The pins slid in and out really easily by hand, though, so my caliper pistons may be sticking a bit. The inside pads were thinner than the outside pads on both sides when I removed the old ones.

 

I think the pad return springs are no longer necessary. I was also concerned about them when I put on Porterfeilds (no place for the spring to go) but someone on here a long time ago told me not to worry about them. I have since been through 2 sets of pads without any problems so I wouldn't worry about them.