I'm tired of listening to squeeling on my brand new brakes, so I want to remove the shims. First question though, are they the little metal wire near the caliper? And if I remove them, will it hurt anything or will my brakes work incorrectly.

 

I strongly suggest you not remove them. The shims are two pieces of metal that sit between the caliper piston and the pad backing surface. They make sure pressure is applied evenly, among other things. I installed pads without shims on brand new rotors and now I get horrible squeaking+ a grind with sudden stops. The brakes still work otherwise, though...

 

Some pads come with shims already on the back of them - like the performance friction pads from autozone I put on recently. Eitherway, if you're sick of squeeking, you can buy some anti-squeel compound. Apply sparingly to the back of the shim (where it makes contact with the caliper, and the two fingers on the other side of the rotor). Some people also put it in between the shim and the pad, but I'd look into it more before doing that, just so that you know pressure is perfectly even.

 

That's the caliper hardware you're talking about. I have those AUTOZONE pads and they came with HARD metal backing but that isn't the caliper hardware. If it squeeks get new hardware.

 

yeah, you need those shims on there. If you think it will squeal right now, wait until you take those shims off of there. It will not be good.
Try getting some of that goo that they were talking about and then, if that doesn't work, get some new hardware like Big D said.

 

My shims have been off for 5 months now, no noise, and nothing wrong with my car!

 

That is unusual. You normally should have them on there.

 

im going to get some OEM pads, or Raybestos QS... i HATE the squeal my brand new brakes make....

 

Shims/anti-squeak goop etc.. are all designed to dampen vibrations that are the real cause of most bp queaks. Some noises are the semi-metallic pads themselves when the car is first driven for 1-2 stops.

Most vibrations occur because the pad "ears" that allow the pads to slide back and forth vibrate and this make the noises. Cleaning these channels out very good plus just a little(very little) dab of high temp grease usually solves this problem. I'd keep the shims in anyway as removing them won't solve your problems.

 

AFAIK it depends on the pads you use. My OEM nissans I took off my 00 had the hard metal backing on the pad, and then also they used TWO shims, which were detachable. I posted some pics elsewhere in the middle of my brake job and people told me not to apply shims to my new pads because they had the hard metal backing, obviously, but also in addition to it they had much thinner metal plates on the back - so they came with shims already on. Apparently these shims are anti-noise. I put some anti-squeel on anyway, since I read that afterwards So far no problems, though it's been only a couple of weeks. Definitely no sounds though!

 

i had squeky brakes when i bought the car...... I changed brake pads (to nissan) on all 4 wheels and didnt use any of the shims, they are super quiete still after 1 year, i wish i wasnt lazy and had the shimms on though, they do squeek when i back out of my driveway unless i slow down using the e brake lever which really isnt a big deal. but i guess when i change them next time i definetley will do it right and use the shims and glue them onto the pads.

 

All pads have the hard metal backing. The two shims you are talking about ARE the caliper hardware I was talking about. I lost mine and had no noise for a while, now it squeeks.

 

I am doing my brakes right now and I have no shims there, obviously previous owner took them off. Brakes have been quiet though untill now when time came to change the pads.