So I'm in a process of overhauling my brakes and I stumped on something that stumped me so I figured I'll ask the experts

A few days ago someone posted a video on how fast it takes to change the pads on pcars and I pulled the calipers to refinish them (pics later but came out gorgeous fyi) the question is thou, I had to remove the calipers to remove the ads as some goofy shims were stuck to them, pics below, are thse necessary or are an overkill and should I toss them so the next pad change takes under a minute a wheel??

 

They are vibration dampers. I am certainly not an expert, but I would replace these when you change pads (or at least use the old one's - but that is not recommended. I think you should change out the retainer kit also).. Circle ones are for the rear and the double one is the front. There are 2 per caliper on the front(4 total). 4 per caliper on the rear (8 total). When new, they have an adhesive backing that sticks to the brake pad. It usually seperates from the pad when you remove them, but sometimes its a little more difficult.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...FILTER_TOOL=ON

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...51-959-11-M100

They are a little cheaper at Suncoast.

 

If you put in racing pads and track then you want to leave them off otherwise they melt in the brakes. For street, they are fine.

 

I reused old ones and they work fine.

 

What Larry said. If you plan to track the car, chuck them. I drive my car on the street and the track and I leave them out... I don't notice any unwanted "pad" chatter! Also makes swapping pads Sooooooo much betta man!

Mike

 

Thanks for the replies
However before I got them, I had to clear my buddies lift since I tied it up for 2 days. I left them out, looks like whoever did a brake job before broke some of the shims off when reusing the old ones, so they were doing more harm than good. No shatter, or noise what so ever. Also changed the fluid. The old one was so old it was green. Replaced with a valvoline super dot 4 synthetic. Brake pedal feel is as sharp as on a sport bike.

Overall, I had my good buddy turn the rotors for me making them look like new. Luckily we didn't have to shave much off as they wore pretty even, but it got rid of the lips and vibration I was experiancing around 70MPH that was really annoying. Now the car is smooth as a baby up untill 120 but I think it has more to do with the tires. Now I can floor the brakes without holding the steering wheel and the car will still track straight.

Also, refinished the front calipers as the clear peeled on them making them pink. They came out awesome!!! Got the $6 decals from ebay and they look like new. I'll post pictures in a seperate tread.