General brake pad replacement question

[tussey]

Just replaced the rear brake pads on my wife's lexus. The pads that came off had a thin piece of metal on the backside of each pad. When I installed the new pads I didn't install this part. It seemed unnecessary for the new pads, they came with a "padding" built in. Did I make the correct decision?

Old pads with thin metal on outside


New pads with built in "outter padding"


Old pads side by side. Dissassembled and assembled

[BaltimoreGS]

Those are the brake pad shims, they help keep the squeaks down.  Your replacement pads are aftermarket or Toyota's cheap YYZ pads, they come with different shims (or no shims in the case of really cheap parts).  The factory shims tend to work better.  The worse you will get is noise when braking, you will still stop ok.  If your original shims are in good shape you may want to save them in case you ever go back to OEM brake pads, those little pieces of metal are a $30 part.  There should also be a little metal dealie on the leading edge of your inner pads, those are the wear indicators.  They rub the rotor and make a squeak noise when the pads are worn out.

-Jessie  (former) Toyota Certified Expert Mechanic

[ineedanap]

-Jessie  (former) Toyota Certified Expert Mechanic

I don't think anybody is going to argue with you on this one.   

[FatBastard]

oh, so thats what those do, I had no idea what they were for either