Dave B

For the past 3 months or so, when making lower speed right turns, the front passenger wheel area would emit a strange humming every once in while. Tonight, it was making the sound fairly consistently so I decided to inspect the problem. I jacked the front up and then tugged on the wheels. Neither exhibited they looseness which may mean bad wheel bearings. I then put the car in neutral and spun the wheel. The drivers side has a slight drag which is correct and then I went to the passenger side and it was stiff. It would turn, but it took a ton more effort to spin. Immediately I thought it was a stuck caliper. I pulled off the wheel and tried to spin the rotor. I could only get it to spin 1/4 at a time due to the resistance. I removed the lower caliper pin and attempted to lift the caliper for inspection. Well, needless to say it was on their very tight. I still thought stuck caliper. As I pulled the pads the inside pad caught my eye. The secondary Nissan pad shim (goes on the outside of brake pad shim) was completely misaligned and bent. Somehow when putting on the new pads (3 months ago hmmmmm..) the shim slipped out of position and got lodged when the caliper was lowered and secured. The shim somehow caused the pads to drag pretty badly. I was able to bend and reform the shim and reinstalled everything. I took the car on a nice test drive and there were no noises or funny humming sounds.

Take your time when you install brake pads and shims. I would have never thought this could happen.


Dave

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

Same thing happend to me...

...last time.

thebigsadler

iTrader: (4)

about a month ago my passenger side started emiting a humming noise upon slowing down and turning to the right. i passed it off because i have so many noises, lol, but this makes a lot of sense seeing as how the BB on my car arent made for my car and are custom, i am sure things could go awry.

i should check it out.. you said it was the pad on the inside of the rotor or outside closest to the wheel? and spinning the rotor wasnt smooth either?

jason

Dave B

Inside pad closest to the wheel well.


Dave

VeeQueue

iTrader: (1)

Probably affected your track times (if you went recently).

ejj

iTrader: (5)

I found the same thing on my ex-gf's Altima. Who ever did the last brake job did the same thing.

Easy enough to fix though.

1MAX2NV

iTrader: (5)

I usually just throw the shims in the trash

costcowholesale

iTrader: (12)

do you get new shims everytime? mine are pretty rusted do I need them?

Dave B

I'd like to believe so (I went back in early February), but I doubt the added drag would cause my car to be measurably slower I did notice my car does roll a lot easier and the brakes feel different. I don't know, maybe since the caliper was dragging more than usual, it heated up the more I drove and caused the rotor to expand under heat therefore causing even more drag the faster I went. Sounds far fetched, but I guess anything is possible. We'll see how she does when March 30th rolls around and my track reopens (resurfaced) and I'll be sporting the JWT ECU.


Dave

araffio

iTrader: (9)

Same method I use

nadir_s

I am gonna do my own brake pad replacement soon! I guess when the car went in for a brake service before, the mechanic probably didn't put freakin shims on. It constantly squeels! Also, today I noticed a little bit of "groaning" sound up front when i come to a complete stop. I am gona change it next week w/ the quietstops.

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

I did my brakes and everything was fine
but i realized my factory shims were basically crumpling in my hands from rust and wear..

so i quickly visited my local nissan parts while my car is on stands in my driveway..
the ****ers wanted 60$ for the shims!

these shims don't look like regular factory ones,
they have a bag with like 15 different little pieces..

i wasn't about to pay that much, and luckily i found some really old shims from another time i was doing brakes and used those, although they were really screwed up as well

but no noises so far
hopefully it stays that way

but yea
shims are actually important

1MAX2NV

iTrader: (5)

If you use the anti squeal compound on the back side of the pads, I don't see any real need for them.

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

I have anti squeel stuff that practically glued the shim to the pad but I still get this weird "hummm" almost like a low whistle noise while turning right and braking like around 5 mph. any ideas?

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

The brake hardware kit includes 4 shims and 4 pad retaining clips.

I got mine for $9 shipped from Courtesy.

deezo

iTrader: (3)

Ouch!

Chebosto

iTrader: (1)

Shims are there to keep the piston surface to brake pad surface flat and even.... some aftermarket pads have shims already in them.. (like my brembos. MWuha) but like tony .. its best to replace them every time. i mean, brakes are serious business! dont fool around with them.. if you're not comfortable changing them out.. best to take it to a brake shop.


dave: any adverse affects on the rotor?

Dave B

Are saying I should just toss out the factory OEM secondary shim? The exploded view of the front calipers show that the shim (the one that caused the problems) should be reinstalled. Like you said, every set of brake pads I've ever bought (higher line Bendix) come with shims and I always install them. Should I just forget about the secondary inside shim?

As for the rotor, it doesn't exhibit signs of extreme heat (cracks, color change, gouges) compared to the driver's side rotor and it's not warped. However, they are the stock rotors with 94K miles (7 years old) and they do look pretty rough. Maybe I'll order a set of Brembo blanks for the fronts when I order set of for my wife's Subaru Legacy GT which has severely warped front rotors.


Dave

Frank Fontaine

I left out the shims and got no noise. The brake pad replacement isn't that complicated, so it's a shame if things get messed up like that. Just use your common sense when doing it and put things back the way they came apart.