Need some education on Titanium Shims

[aus]

My track pads are getting a little thinner so I'm thinking of getting some titanium shims to help with heat. I'm currently running Stoptech ST60 with their R33 pads and RE71R tires.

Would shims be helpful? Where did you guys get shims?
Hard Brakes seems popular but they come in 2 thickness? is 0.5 or 1mm better??

There's also these 0.8mm shims on ebay one's for pretty cheap: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Titanium-br...d=254094896738

Thanks.

[roastbeef]

i'm not convinced shims are going to help. all the pads i've [regretfully] taken down to backing plate thickness or less didn't perform as well as they did when new. the pad itself holds heat and less pad puts that much more of a burden on the material. it is impossible for titanium shims to help with this fact.
the theory is shims keeg heat out of the pistons->calipers->fluid, and even that is debatable. i think the problem you're trying to combat just isn't going to get solved with shims, since pads just don't perform the same when they get thinner.

this is how i believe i cooked my srf fluid- too high of pad temps due to running pads at the end of their life and a high demand track (laguna).

all that said, i've never used shims.

[dparm]

The argument for shims is that they will prevent less heat from being transferred from the pads into the pistons, caliper, fluid, etc. as the pad wears down.

It seems like a band-aid for a larger problem of inadequate brake cooling and/or people running pads down too far.

[kyippee]

On that topic, how far do you guys run pads down to before swapping in new ones? 3mm of pad material, not including backing plate? 5mm?

[roastbeef]

backing plate thickness is a good rule of thumb. 3mm just isn't enough. you start to overheat the material fast and it goes right into the pistons/calipers and cooks the fluid. there just isn't any good reason to try to run them. i learned this the hard way.

[aus]

That's what I'm trying to prevent with the shims. Keep the heat out of the fluid. My pads are like 1/2 down and I noticed a drop off in braking last time out.

Also wondering how thick is thick enough to make a difference.
.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by kpewpew

On that topic, how far do you guys run pads down to before swapping in new ones? 3mm of pad material, not including backing plate? 5mm?

Backing plate thickness is a decent rule of thumb, assuming that the inner and outer pads wear at the same rate and you don't have taper.

The pros toss their pads as soon as they hit 50%.

[kyippee]

Thanks roastbeef and dparm ! I will feel less guilty now, I've been typically replacing at 3-5mm proactively and feeling guilty.

Total thickness of my BBK pads: 17.5mm
Backing plate only: 5.7mm
Pad material only: 11.8mm

[Redd]

I beg to differ. I absolutely believe Ti shims work. I have Brembo GT front and rear and I'm using Pmu HC+ pads. My Brembos are painted Dakar Yellow and after the first few trackdays, I noticed that the paint was turning darker. I wasn't running Ti shims then.

I went and got the calipers repainted to Dakar Yellow again, and this time I installed Hardbrakes 1mm non-ventilated Ti shims. 2 years a several trackdays later, the Brembos haven't discoloured. So I know for a fact that less heat is making it to the caliper. I had Ti shims with my Megane RS and in 5 yrs of tracking the red Brembos never discolored or turned brown.

This alone is reason enough for me to get Ti shims.

[aus]

Originally Posted by Redd

I beg to differ. I absolutely believe Ti shims work. I have Brembo GT front and rear and I'm using Pmu HC+ pads. My Brembos are painted Dakar Yellow and after the first few trackdays, I noticed that the paint was turning darker. I wasn't running Ti shims then.

I went and got the calipers repainted to Dakar Yellow again, and this time I installed Hardbrakes 1mm non-ventilated Ti shims. 2 years a several trackdays later, the Brembos haven't discoloured. So I know for a fact that less heat is making it to the caliper. I had Ti shims with my Megane RS and in 5 yrs of tracking the red Brembos never discolored or turned brown.

This alone is reason enough for me to get Ti shims.

Good info for me since my Stoptech's faded with track days. Do you run the shims all the time or after the pads have worn down a little?

How important is fitment Just wondering if the ebay ones will be good enough or I should get the Hardbrakes ones?
.

[Redd]

Originally Posted by aus

Good info for me since my Stoptech's faded with track days. Do you run the shims all the time or after the pads have worn down a little?

How important is fitment Just wondering if the ebay ones will be good enough or I should get the Hardbrakes ones?
.

I run shims all the time, even with new pads. They fit fine for new pads. Not sure about eBay ones but this is the 4th car I've had Hardbrake shims on. They're pretty responsive to email, and once they shipped me the wrong shim they replaced it for me without any fuss. So I don't see any reason not to continue using them. Fitment isn't that important as long as u get the correct pad shape for your caliper.

[dparm]

GiroDisc makes shims too.

[tsk94]

Originally Posted by Redd

I beg to differ. I absolutely believe Ti shims work. I have Brembo GT front and rear and I'm using Pmu HC+ pads. My Brembos are painted Dakar Yellow and after the first few trackdays, I noticed that the paint was turning darker. I wasn't running Ti shims then.

I went and got the calipers repainted to Dakar Yellow again, and this time I installed Hardbrakes 1mm non-ventilated Ti shims. 2 years a several trackdays later, the Brembos haven't discoloured. So I know for a fact that less heat is making it to the caliper. I had Ti shims with my Megane RS and in 5 yrs of tracking the red Brembos never discolored or turned brown.

This alone is reason enough for me to get Ti shims.

Agreed. I’ve used Ti backing plates and they certainly helped. They won’t solve brake overheating issues entirely but they do help for sure.