FWIW, over the years I've had to remove those backing plate shims a few times, on a variety of cars because I couldn't get the pads to fit any other way.


That's where most of us find shims--- lower bolt, between the steering arm and the caliper


Not necessarily, as that location would indeed change the position of the caliper for 'centralizing'....if/when needed.


The parallel-ism (if that's a word) would obviously be very important but in a practical sense is hard to check with any degree of precision with everything mounted on the car. It would be a matter of eyeballing, in my experience. The pads would wear unevenly...with one area of the pad being more worn than the other, and becoming slightly wedge-shaped

In practice this doesn't seem to be an issue as we hear few if any reports of that happening. Or it's subtle enough that most people don't catch it

Cheers
DD

 

What I should've said, of course, is "....between the steering arm and the caliper....."

Sorry


Cheers
DD

 

I've changed front disc pads on about five critters. Two,
the 85 F150 and the 79 IHC Scout II used the same system.
Brutal tools prevailed!! BFH!!!


Other three, including the Jaguar, more sensitive.
The Jaguar needed a bit of massaging. Scraping out the ways on the
caliper to get a nice pad fit and assure smooth travel. Quite grungy.
The pads needed a bit of light grind on he edges to fit. Same for the
tin, "anti-squeak" pads. A bit of high temp grease in the ways and on the pins. Smooth, quiet and effective. SOG, I forgot the "anti-rattle"
springs on the pins. Not there, or is it just that my "limited" ears don't get it.


Two big old "screw drivers" long relegated to "pry" duty pushed the pistons back just fine.


Carl

 

Based on the consensus of all and rather than take any chances, I removed the brake pad shim, installed the brake pad, tightened the top steering arm bolt and shimmed the bottom bolt.
I will be installing the assembly on the car sometime today.

 

Catching up.

Yes, those "tin shims" that are fitted/supplied with some brands of pads are not always usable on the Jag 4 piston caliper. I never used them on any of my Jags ever.

In fact, I removed them from the EBC for the Black car, so fitment was possible (totalling different system). They were simply too tight (as in too thick) with those "shims" in place. No ill affects.

 

If you leave out the shims, and there will be a gap, you can cause the larger pot in the 3 pot calipers to be out of perpendicular to the Brake disc. This may cause overheating! a bit like a barbecue in your wheel arch.

 

Which shims?

The shims for the steering arms won't have any bearing on caliper alignment.

Apparently some cars did have actual caliper alignment shims. The manuals all make mention of them but I've never seen any in use over the years

Cheers
DD

 

Did someone resurrect this thread? I originally started this thread in April 2016 and was resolved with inputs from Doug and Grant in 2016.
Just curious.

 

Yes, with post #26

Cheers
DD

 

I'm glad they did because when I put mine back in I didn't put any shims back. I don't even think I realized they were there. When I saw this thread I thoguht to myself, you know I don't remember putting any shims on that lower bolt.... hmm. Luckily, I have not put any real miles or load on the car since,

I just finished putting them back in.