carguy07

Doing my first brake job on this car and have a few questions for the pros. I bought Autozone pads that have a shim already attached to the back of the pads. In the past on other cars I always used permatex disk brake quiet (the blue glue stuff) with great luck. It looks like these cars go the other way and lubricate the surface on the back of the pads/shims. Is that what you guys are doing? Spread lubricant to the back of the pads/shims and all of the wear surfaces?

Thanks..KW

salimshah

First time I replaced pads, a small plastic pack of grease came with the replacement pads. Second time around, I had to buy the little tube. One has to sparingly apply the grease to the back of the pad and and both sides of the shim. Three drops (volume) is enough per wheel.

Salim

mikey00

Permatex Disc Brake Quiet is a adhesive made for pads without shims. Use the grease. You should be able to get it in any auto parts store in small tear open throw away packs.

carguy07

Thanks!

Another question, the Autozone pads come with a shim already attached to the back of the pad. It looks like the stock ones use 2 shims. Should I be reusing the outer stock shim?

This car has more anti squeal stuff than any other car I have seen. Seems to work well, but man there are a lot of parts there.

mikey00

I think you are going to have trouble getting a definitive answer to this. You could try asking AutoZone or call manufacturer. In both cases I bet it will be tough to talk to anyone who is not guessing. If it were me I would just use the shim that came with the pad. But I wouldn't throw out the old ones just yet.

carguy07

Got them finished last night, nothing too intimidating in there. I just used the shims that were already attached to the new pads. I think they actually have 2 sandwiched on them, just hard to see. Used the lube and so far no squeaks or rattles.

I did spend some extra time cleaning up the pad support plates. They had plenty of corrosion/road grime on them. They were stuck on pretty good so I just left them on the torque plate and cleaned them up with a wire wheel on a drill and used a dremel with a little wire wheel to get in the tight spots. I don’t think the pads will slide properly if you skip this.

Actually I was amazed how tight the stock pads were wedged in the plate. Had to pry and pop them with a hammer to get them out. I think the torque plate rusts from underneath and tightens up the dimensions. Some of the new ones were going in too tight as well, so I took a little material off of the new pads to make them fit correctly. Seems perfect now. The alternative would be to replace the pad support plates and clean up the torque plate underneath them. Mine were stuck on so well that I figured it was better to leave them alone and “adjust” the pads to fit.

A couple of hours work to save a grand seems like a good trade off.