sasilverbullet

Just did a brake job on my 03 C2 Coupe, all stock everything. Put Akebono pads, Pagid rotors and new wear sensors on the front.

I had read a lot of comments on the shims, most say that you don't need them, or it's okay to reuse them.

So I chiseled off the shims as carefully as I could from the brake pads. They weren't perfectly flat, but pretty close.

Put it all back together and my pedal then had over 6 inches of travel before braking started.

So I purchased new shims from FCP Euro and replaced the old shims with new ones.

Noticed when I was doing the work that with the old shims I could barely turn the rotor by hand, once I put the new shims on, rotor turned easily as normal.

Also noticed that the shims are magnetic, so they hold the pad ever so slightly away from the rotor.

Once I put the new shims in, now the pedal is about 1.5 inch of travel, and the brakes feel perfect!

Moral of this story is "use new shims" when you replace the front pads, you'll be glad you did.

Mike Murphy

I did Akebono pads and Zimmerman rotors a couple weeks ago. Same as you, new sensors.

I don’t recall any shims on my car, a 99C2. I did install the brake damper pads though. Man, those are not cheap for what they are.

sasilverbullet

I may be calling them wrong, do the damper pads have the round pucks on them?

Mike Murphy

The front dampers look like this:

The rear dampers look like this:

sasilverbullet

Yep, that's what I replaced, the front ones. $61 for four at FCP Euro.

Mike Murphy

Amazing to me these cost as much as some rotors. And many don’t use them, don’t need them, and don’t have any issues with squealing. However, some that have had squealing put these in and it solved their problem.

jayzbird

Strange. I’ve reused the shims dozens of times swapping back and forth with track pads and never had this issue. Of course the first time after pushing the pistons in you need to pump the brake a few times to get the fluid back in the lines, but that’s the same regardless of old or new shims. Perhaps if they were bent they were pushing the pistons back further than normal?

sasilverbullet

Yep, that's what I think...

TexSquirrel

I’m glad the new dampers fixed your issue.

sasilverbullet

Are the rear dampers 30 or 28mm? I have a 2003 base C2.

SoCal911t

My '99 C2 uses four 28mm and four 30mm.

wyovino

I reused the dampers the first time I changed my brake pads and had no issues. This time I damaged the front ones pulling them off the old pads and didn't replace them. Still no issues.