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OP, there are no brake shims that may possibly scrape on rotors. They do not exist.
The only shims Toyota has is antisqueal pads, aka antivibration pads, thin metal plates, sometimes 2 stacked, with cuts in them, to prevent pads squeal. They are held in place with small side prongs, but those terminate at the pad metal edge and do NOT cross onto pad material. So, at 40 or 50% wear, none of those "shims" will get anywhere close to a rotor.
That tells me that that shop, whatever it is, is one of those that pastures on people's ignorance to run a bill.
I wouldn't go there ever again.
If you have not noticed any shimmy in the car, or steering, when braking, disregard their "recommendations". Either way, if it starts shaking, any LesSchwab will turn rotors for you for less and better.
Btw, the only thing there that can scrape on rotor is called brake pad wear indicator. But you have to get brake pad friction material to pretty much nothing for it to start making noise.
That's my 2 cents. As owner of several Toyotas and proud DIY of all my brakes.
Thanks so much for all of your responses. To answer your questions, it is technically a tire shop, but they have mechanics who "do it all". It's a smallish town, so that's not unusual. I don't know if it's the same mechanic each time, or not. I think they have at least a couple of mechanics, so it could be different ones. So, I can understand that one mechanic may have estimated that the amount of pad left was 40% front, 60% back and then later another estimated 50% and 80%. Especially, if it's just an "eyeball" estimate.
But, what bothers us the most is that we drive slowly and break easy. When coming off the freeway we use the engine to slow the truck down before breaking as an example of how we use the breaks. So, to go from 40, or 50% on the front pads down to 20% in just 1,700 miles of driving, plus that my husband and I don't feel the pulsating is what bothers us. My husband is disabled, so we can't check it out ourselves. We'll need to ask around and see if anyone we know has a mechanic they trust since the best thing to do at this point is get a second opinion.
Sometimes what you are being told just doesn't pass the logic test and for us this was one of those times.
OP, there are no brake shims that may possibly scrape on rotors. They do not exist.
The only shims Toyota has is antisqueal pads, aka antivibration pads, thin metal plates, sometimes 2 stacked, with cuts in them, to prevent pads squeal. They are held in place with small side prongs, but those terminate at the pad metal edge and do NOT cross onto pad material. So, at 40 or 50% wear, none of those "shims" will get anywhere close to a rotor.
That tells me that that shop, whatever it is, is one of those that pastures on people's ignorance to run a bill.
I wouldn't go there ever again.
If you have not noticed any shimmy in the car, or steering, when braking, disregard their "recommendations". Either way, if it starts shaking, any LesSchwab will turn rotors for you for less and better.
Btw, the only thing there that can scrape on rotor is called brake pad wear indicator. But you have to get brake pad friction material to pretty much nothing for it to start making noise.
That's my 2 cents. As owner of several Toyotas and proud DIY of all my brakes.
Thanks for your response...this is very interesting. Last year, when the mechanic told my husband about the "shims", it bothered him a bit because the shop that put those brake pads on where we used to live had always done a great job and was trustworthy. So, what you're explaining makes sense to us.
We have noticed no difference in the performance of the brakes and my husband was completely surprised when the mechanic told him about the pulsating. We haven't noticed any shimmy in the car, or steering, or braking. The brakes seem fine to us. We're not mechanics, but we know our truck pretty well. Also, they've checked our brakes three times now, and the first two times there was no mention of any problem with the rotors. As in, they are going to need to be replaced soon, or whatever. Then after driving only 1,700 miles, they are shot.
Thanks so much for your "2 cents".
Last edited by lily4; 08-07-2014 at 01:33 PM..
Reason: typo
4 years ago I had two tires put on my car just before I was driving to Seattle from the SF Bay Area.
The tire shop said I needed at a minimum new front pads and I should also buy rotors... to take such a long trip would be asking for trouble...
Paid for my tires and left for Seattle... actually made several more roundtrips since.
Last week the wear sensor on my front brakes went on... changed the pads this morning and I would guess maybe 10% were on the pads.
I do my own work so I was not worried about what could happen because I know my car...
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