OK... two things:

Yesterday I put a set of Delco ceramic brake pads in my '03 vert. (both front and rear) Factory pads had noise reducing shims on both inner and outer pads. The GM ceramic kit only had 1 shim per caliper. Which pad would you put the shim on and why? I put it against the pucks, figuring thats where the most movement was. What does every one else think?

Second, with the car lifted by the body such that the rear suspension hangs down, the rear brake lines are almost stretched. I was amazed. GM sure didn't leave any extra hose on there....

 

The replacement pads for my '88 had the anti-rattle pads on the backs of the outer pad only.

If you get rattle, pull the pad and put a thin layer of black RTV on the back of the pad, install the pad, let it stand for 24hrs and you should be fine.

 

I'd go with the outer pad. Any harmonics would come from the caliper rather than the puck.

My.02

 

sometimes theres shims supplied for turned rotors.
as a general rule i put things back the same as they were when dis-assembled.

 

I'm pretty sure it's the outter side.

 

i read the procedure at gmfleet for the 03 frt/rr brake pad change and theres no reference to shims or noise plates.they just show putting the pads on and the anti-rattle clips.
there is 1 bulletin out that refers to z06 pads which i think may be the delco "ceramic" pads you installed.
heres the gist of it:
"The Corvette Z06 is equipped with high performance front brake linings that provide improved brake performance under severe use. Like all such linings, they will exhibit some low speed noise and an increase in the amount of brake dust. These conditions should be considered normal for this brake pad material. If this is a large customer dissatisfier, the front brake pads used on the convertible and Targa can be used as a replacement. The convertible and Targa brake pad will NOT provide the same level of performance under severe use. "
i have ceramic pads on my c4 and they sound gnarly when barely moving,especially when cold.
as far as those shims your refering to i cant find a reference to where they are supposed to be.where you put them would be my guess though.
i will look a bit more.
can you post the actual part # of the pads you have?

in case you didnt know this heres the gm procedure on burnishing those new pads:

"Burnishing the brake pads and brake rotors is necessary in order to ensure that the braking surfaces are properly prepared after service has been performed on the disc brake system.

This procedure should be performed whenever the disc brake rotors have been refinished or replaced, and/or whenever the disc brake pads have been replaced.

Select a smooth road with little or no traffic.
Accelerate the vehicle to 48 km/h (30 mph).

Important
Use care to avoid overheating the brakes while performing this step.


Using moderate to firm pressure, apply the brakes to bring the vehicle to a stop. Do not allow the brakes to lock.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until approximately 20 stops have been completed. Allow sufficient cooling periods between stops in order to properly burnish the brake pads and rotors."

this process can quiet brake noise and prevent glazing,just an all around good idea to do on any disc brake change

 

I already pitched the box... they were the Delco ceramics, and I did do the burn in. It's interesting to note that shims for the rear calipers have diecut holes in them, and will only fit on the outer pads, and not the puck side.

So, it's a toss up in my opinion. If I have noise issues, I'll head for Kragen (since it is not a replaceable part per my local Chevrolet Dealer) and buy a second set of shims for the other side pads.

Thanks for the informative post. I appreciate it.

 

Whoaaa there. I think the GM tech manuals are a bit behind here.

1. rotors are inexpensive to replace, do not turn rotors. raybestos rotors from Napa or rockauto.com are $25 each and if you must have the drilled and or slotted they at $50 each. Far better then OEM and most aftermarket big name rotors.

2. Bedding or seed or as mentioned above, "Burnishing the brake pads and brake rotors" is nessary for proper brake function. Part of this process is to produce the nessary heat to transfer brake pad material to the rotor. HEAT is the key element here. Heat is accomplished by hard braking not ***** footting braking.

The bedding process:

Find a quit low traffic straight road. All braking must be done in a straight line for safty reasons.

accelerate up to 40 mph and step on the brakes hard down to 5 mph Hard enough to almost active the ABS.Hard enough to amost put the front rubber air damn/ spoiler on the ground. If you lightly step on the brakes as mentened not enough heat will be generated and pad materail will not transfer for properly funtioning brakes.

repeat 40 to 5 mph stops 3 to 5 times

accelerate upt 80 mph and step on the brakes hard down to 5 mph. DO this 3 to 5 times.

if you do any track days do 4 to 5 100 mph to 5 mph stops as well. ( this also helps teach high speed controled braking ) Cermic pads are not to be used for track days.

drive car for 30 to 40 min too allow brake rotors, pads and calipers too cool down.

Put car away for 24 hours ( not over night ) to finish the brake cooling process. Yes this will discolor the hats of the rotors. the color will be a nice rainbow color and in some cases will burn off brake rotor paint unless 1800+ degree paint is used. If there are zinc coated rotors this process will also remove any zinc coating from the rotor.

Again HEAT is the key element in brake bedding process.

Ref:
http://www.stoptech.com/faq/data/faq7.html

http://www.wilwood.com/Products/Brak...es/techtip.asp

Good Luck