Brake pad shims necessary???

[jordacr]

I recently bought and '87 DX and needed to do the front brakes. I bought some cheap pads (money is tight). Once I got in there I noticed a shim on the back of each pad on the driver side and only one on the passenger side. I did the driver side before I knew the passenger side was missing a shim. The caliper piston was completely backed off, I had new pads and new rotors. I was able to lower the caliper over the pads with the shims but it just seemed too tight to me..... the pads constantly against the rotor. So I decided to not use the shims at all.

What do these shims even do????? What will happen if you do not use them??? If I need to use them how many should there be?? I have the Honda service manuals for '86 accords and the '87-'89 supplements. The main manual shows a single shim on the outer pad but no shim on the inner pad. The '87 supplement shows 2 shims on the outer pads and 1 on the inner pads. What is correct????

Thanks for you help. So far, this site had been very helpful for working on this car. This is my first Honda and I love it.

Craig

[Rendon LX-i]

no..u can do witout them

[LX-incredible]

I never use shims, at least not on pads without integral shims. They usually end up falling off and dragging on the rotor anyway...

[AZmike]

They're just for noise reduction. They do not impact the performance of the brake system.

[jordacr]

Thanks everyone. I feel better now about not using them.