My braking felt a little odd last week.....almost like I was getting a little pulsating. I am doing some other work on the car today, so checked the front pads (rears are plenty thick still). These are the original pads with 37.5K on the clock. They are worn down to where there is just a hint of the center groove remaining. But they don't appear to be quite half way worn; i.e., still look like they have plenty of life in them.

At what thickness should they be replaced?

I have read about a "wear indicator"; is this something built into the pad that surfaces as the pad wears, or is this a bracket around the pad?

I have a new set of front pads.....why are there 6 shims in the box? I only pulled the outside pad. Does the inside pad use two shims? Or is Honda merely being generous and giving extras??

I am due to change brake fluid. Not doing any tracking currently, though take the occasional "spirited" drive when conditions and roads permit. Would I notice a difference using ATE Super Blue/2000, or am I good with Valvoline Dot 3/Dot 4 (I have no idea why it lists both on the bottle)??

 

the inside pad in the front uses two shims

 

1.6mm is the minimum thickness.

Just look at you original pads to see what order the shims go in.

 

There is an official Honda spec for the minimum pad thickness.

I've run brake pads right down to the backing plate, but that's certainly not ideal. If it took you 37K miles to wear them down as far as you have, I don't think it would be excessive to replace them if you want to. But they probably don't need it.

The wear indicator is the little spring-metal clip thing on the side of the (inside, I think?) pad. When the pad gets thin enough that the indicator touches the rotor then it makes a distinctive squealing noise. (Track pads don't come with them, because it is assumed track cars are having their brakes inspected almost constantly. Street car brakes are rarely ever inspected at all.)

Unless you are actually on track, you will not notice a difference between the regular fluid and the DOT4 fluid. Usuing the regular fluid is cheaper and probably a better option for a street car.

 

The indicator is the shim on the inside as stated before. When replacing this shim goes on down. I used to get confused replacing pads until I realized this. Not sure if the other way will even fit. I replace pads at about 3mm remaining.

 

What?! A shim is a shim. It's not the wear indicator.

One could argue that what are called "shims" in brakes are not actually shims, but since they are thin metal spacers the name has stuck. But in fact they are actually used for noise damping rather than shimming the brakes.

 

Just lack of a better word. If you brakes makes noise it's probably time to replace them. The piece of metal (I referred to as a shim) is located on the pad behind the rotor and is a PITA to see. My best advice is look at the pads and think about safety.


Simple enough?

 

That little clip of metal on the side of the inside pad is the wear indicator. It is not a shim.

The shims are the very thin pieces of metal that are shaped like the pads. They snap on to the back of the pads. You put a little bit of high temp grease between the pad and the shim, and it becomes a constrained layer damping system.

 

FYI, brakes are checked at annual PA state inspections and the minimum thickness is 2/32".

 

My pads are at 7mm.....pretty impressive with 37K. I'll leave them for a while yet; seems a waste to change them when they have that much wear left.