S3 rear brakes, shims??

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Endacy

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So I just upgraded to S3 rear brakes, yum! Anyway The pads I bought were TRW ones from VWSPARES.CO.UK listed as fitting all rear brakes. The shims however only fit the old ones with the 9mm disc, not the new wider vented disc. I have had the same issue when I changed the rears on my friends Octavia VRS (same rears).

ETKA gives a part number for these shims for the 9mm quattro setup, but says 'part number unknown' for the S3 brakes. So do the larger S3 brakes have these? I have fitted without at the moment as they aren't crucial to them functioning and I only noiced they were wrong after i'd finished installing them.

Help!

The shims I am talking about:


Untitled by Endacy, on Flickr

The brakes (just to show the shiny bits reallly!)


Untitled by Endacy, on Flickr
 
Most VAG cars do have those shims, however mine didn't either! There's about 1mm play without them but they don't rattle so I'm not too fussed. Would be interested in getting them too so it's 100% though
 
Those shims will be a noise fix to prevent squeal (they wouldn't be there without reason). However from experience those shims will be a cancel out a low(ish) frequency squeal. If you haven't noticed any significant noise then it might only occur at high temp. If you do start hearing brake squeal from the rear - you know how to fix it!
 
Sorry! Im not thinking before I type - it might be a creek fix.

When slowly lifting off the brake pedal (usually on a downward slope) you sometimes hear a creak groan noise as the brakes stop binding, that shim is most likely a fix for that.

ps I apologise for my geekness on the subject (its my job)
 
Thanks for the info (so what exactly IS your job?).

I'd rather have them than not, but i've no idea where I can get any of them!

Actually I just found someone on a spanish forum with the same problem, and they found the part number is 1J0615231A. The 'A' on the end is for the wider ones, without the A is the ones I already have loads of that don't fit. I am awaiting the local VW dealer calling be back!
 
£3.59 EACH!!

EACH!!

Cars is going to have to do without. I can't justify nearly £15, which is possibly +VAT, for those!
 
my job title is - Brakes Development Engineer.

Basically my job is reducing/cancelling brake squeal for a car manufacturer, you wouldnt believe how much work goes into it......
 
Ah I see! So THE man to know about these things then. I always figured they were just stainless steel 'sliders' to help the pads slide in the carriers.
 
You are right that they aid the pad sliding, but its for noise reasons not performance like you probably thought.

I need to stop this before everyone on this forum thinks im a prize geek with huge glasses and nipple high trousers.....
 
Right, I received the parts I ordered. Wrong ones. Looks like Mintex listed them wrongly for the S3 too, probably because the pads are the same. Items being sent back...

Found some on ebay that look more right though, they are Delphi parts, part number LX0438. A quick google provides a much more promising result. £13 with postage.
 
New ones ordered from VW (dealer's nearer). £3.59 each inc VAT. New calipers bolt 98p each. At least I know they'll be right. Well hopefully, we'll see when they arrive tomorrow morning.
 
Sorry to highjack, but I've just fitted new brakes and pads from eurocarparts and they squeal when low speed breaking!! I copper greased between the pad and shim, on the pad corners where it sits in the caliper and on the shim where it touches the piston. Doing my head in and so embarrassing in carparks. Any ideas guys?
 
what pads and disks are they? do you know the make?

if its a cheap set then the disc design may be different and the pad material may also be different - these factors could be enough to produce huge brake squeal. Consider that when the car was being designed there was a brakes team spending their life tuning the brake system to eliminate squeal, minor alterations can give dramatic results.
Consider the brake system (particularly the disc) as a tuning fork, just tap a disc with a hammer and see how easy it is to make it ring, when the pads are squeezed on they input energy to the disc, in certain conditions this excite the disc and make it ring/squeal. Its usually under low brake pressures since this gives more movement in the system (lower clamping force).

My only advice is consider changing pad manufacturer and pray it works, if not disc and pad.

Sorry to have rambled on there, just trying to cure the common misconception that brake squeal is a result of not enough copper slip, its something much more fundamental.

hope I have helped
 
Thanks for the informative post eddieantifreeze. Both pads and discs are from Eurocarparts and are the middle priced ones. I'm pretty sure I have the same up front and have no issues. The problem seems to have got worse today, thought id try bed them in with some hard braking and now the noise is louder and more often :(

Ill order some OEM brakes from Audi and fingers crossed they work ok with the Eurocarparts discs.

Allan
 
The facelift B5 S4 calipers are identical in design to the S3 ones, and take the same pads, and same size of disk and they have no shims listed at all on ETKA.
 
Just looked on the site and they have 25% off so may order from Eurocarparts again. The rear pads I bought are Eicher, should have realised they would be crap at £12 :)

How about the Pagid ones at £19 or the ATE at £28, bare in mind ill get 25% would it be worth getting the most expensive? Its only the rears, my last set lasted almost 4 years and Im not planning on keeping car much longer.

Thanks

Allan
 
Do you think maybe remove the shims and see how it goes?

aragorn said:
The facelift B5 S4 calipers are identical in design to the S3 ones, and take the same pads, and same size of disk and they have no shims listed at all on ETKA.
Click to expand...
 
Incase anyone is interested I bought the more expensive ATE pads from eurocarparts using the 25% off deal. Have fitted them today and after a quick test drive they seem ok, but only time will tell. Strange that these pads dont have a shim like the cheaper £12 pads.
 
Well I got the shims from VW. The correct ones, fitted...and couldn't get the pads in. No clearance. Brakes reassembled without them, they just don't fit. Brakes work fine anyway. Don't think I should have to file or grind the edges of the pad to fit these, seems counter productive really.

Ah well, £18 I'd rather not have spent.
 
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