brake shim necessary?

[eszoom]

i bought this o' reilly best select pads from checkers. the forums say to take off the old shims off the old pad and put it on the new. my son and i couldn't put back the caliper on cause the pad were too thick w/ the shims on. this new pad looks like it has shims built in, not like the old one. in fact it looks thicker than the old one. took off the old shims and it fit fine. only took it around block and so far so good. question is did i need those old shims? or do some brands come w/ shims built in?

 

[kudakev615]

you will be fine with out the shim.

 

[slavrenz]

If your car is 2001 or later with a 2.0L engine, the brake pads should have the shims built in. If the brake pads fit without the shims, and you're stopping fine, don't worry about it.

 

[eszoom]

thanks for replying guys, makes me feel safer.

 

[iluvmacs]

save the shims for later. The piston may not have enough travel to push worn pads against a worn rotor. I wear mine as far as they'll go, so the shims help me!

If you wear them down pretty far, you could have an issue with your piston dust boot coming off. That's bad news. Shims will help prevent that.