Do I use the shim on EBC brake pads?

[stevesweetz]

Doing my brake pads for the first time (ever, not just on my FJ).

I ordered some EBC pads.  The front pads came with a shim on the back, which can be removed.  The rear did not.

I have not yet looked at whether the stock pads have a similar shim. 

So just to be sure: do I use the shim or not?

[betoney]

@stevesweetz  - I have the EBC HH pads on the front and I installed them exactly as they were delivered, with the perforated backing plate.

[texscottyd]

Hi @stevesweetz - I also use the EBC HH pads, and installed them exactly as they came out of the package, with that backing plate in place... I honestly didn't even notice that it was removable. 

I suspect that is an anti-squeal shim which is pre-installed on the backing plate.  Leave it alone and enjoy your strong - and quiet - new brakes.

[coachluciano]

16 hours ago, stevesweetz said:

Doing my brake pads for the first time (ever, not just on my FJ).

I ordered some EBC pads.  The front pads came with a shim on the back, which can be removed.  The rear did not.

I have not yet looked at whether the stock pads have a similar shim. 

So just to be sure: do I use the shim or not?

When I installed my rear, i removed the backing plates from the stock and put them on the EBCs. Not sure if they would work as well without. 

[stevesweetz]

Funny enough, it turned that the stock front pads did not have a shim/backing plate, while the stock rear pads did.  The exact opposite of how the EBC pads come. 😖

I kept the EBC shim on the front pads and like coachluciano I re-used the stock shim on the rear pads.

All seems to be good, plenty of stopping power and no noises, so presumably it was fine to do it like that.

Edited August 13, 2019 by stevesweetz

[neilx7]

I have just service and cleaned my front calipers, and I had to remove the shims on the EBC HH pads I was installing, as with them attached they caused the pads to bind to much,

cheers

neil

 

[2and3cylinders]

I just installed some EBC front pads with the quote-unquote shims which I believe are there to help dissipate Heat whereas the pads slipped in to the calipers and rotor easily with the Pistons fully retracted it seems pretty tight once I took up the gaps by gently pumping the master cylinder lever I haven't had a chance to test ride it yet but I'm also concerned about binding

I did measured the thickness of the EBC shims and they were each about .40 millimeters thick which for each caliper only totals about .8 mm which shouldn't be a problem I guess I'll find out

Before that I had a set of vesrah rjl racing pads which were good but when I went to the R1 320 mm rotors I bought a new set from Kurvy Girl but they were the RJ LCT which didn't seem to have is much stopping power as the regular rjl then I had the compression adjustment screw on the left Fork cartridge o-ring leak (Forks by Matt cartridges) all over the caliper and rotor and tried cleaning the pads and despite trying to sand the pads flat I wasn't getting full rotor contact so I abraded and cleaned the rotors once again and installed the EBCs which hopefully they have better bite than the rjl CT