Another update:

Looks like it may be the RacingBrake shims after all. I removed the RB Shims from both front calipers, and put everything back together without them. Voila - no more soft brake pedal!

Below are pictures of the RacingBrake shims after I took them out. This is
definitely not what they looked like when I put them in two months ago. The silicone on both sides of each shim looks to be melted off, and the entire shape of the each shim is deformed. As you can see from some of the profile shots, the shim no longer sits properly on the brake pad.





















When I contacted the RacingBrake representative last week, they put me in touch with one of their engineers. He told me that something like this could be what was happening, causing an air bubble between the back of the pad and the caliper. This would necessitate additional pressure to properly engage the brake, which seems to be where my soft brake pedal feel came from. This also explains how removing these shims restored firmness in my pedal feel.

The RacingBrake engineer was very helpful and courteous, and wanted to take a look at these images. If a defective design was indeed the case, I believe he had the intention of sending me re-designed shims to replace my current set.

I'll keep you updated as more develops.

 

Yup, I had a feeling the shims were your problem because your situation is what exactly happended to me. Hopefully the revised shims are properly functional because those original ones are junk. Look at how they bananaed in your pics.

 

RacingBrake has taken responsibility for this condition and has verified that they are sending me re-designed brake shims at no cost. So far, their customer service continues to be very good.

I will post another update after I have received and installed the parts.

 

Last week, I received the newly redesigned RacingBrake Shims and installed them.







As you can see, the overall shape of the new shim is different from the old shim. It seems as if they tapered the edges of the shim off more. The RacingBrake engineer indicated that this would eliminate the effect that the old shims had of getting stuck/caught in position, causing an air gap to form, and decreasing pedal pressure.

After installing these new shims, I can say with confidence that they feel much better than the old shims. It might just be my imagination, but I don't think the pedal pressure feels as strong as having no shim at all. Nevertheless, it certainly feel WORLDS better than the low brake pressure I had with the old shims. In any case, I am content since I now have confidence in my braking performance, and there is no squealing at all.

I hope these new shims continue to perform well as time passes. If this changes, I will definitely let you guys know.

I hope this review has helped anyone interested in the RacingBrake brake shims. Please make sure you get teh revised design if you do order them

 

Glad it worked out for you there and that RB corrected their mistake. Is the material or coating on the new shims the same as the old shims? I felt the material on teh old ones were just way too squishy and compressable.

 

yea i noticed that too...my mechanic forgot to put the shims on once and the brakes had alot more bite without them...but the squeal was unbearable...after i

reinstalled the oem shims the squeal went away but they did not feel as strong as without them...

 

The silicone material seems to be the same in the new shims as they were in the old shims. I thought the material used was a bit strange as well, so I asked RacingBrake about them. The tech said they were designed this way, and are supposed to partially melt off when exposed to the pressure and heat of the brakes. I'm not sure if I am 100% happy with the material. No doubt that the material does an excellent job at eliminating brake squeal. But it definitely is squishy, and may account for why my brakes don't feel quite as strong as with no shims at all.

Has anyone simply used anti-squeal grease on the back side of the brake pads? I am wondering if that would be a more effective way of eliminating brake squeal, while keeping 100% strong pedal feel.

 

what's the difference between the shims from RB vs that cheapo metal shim that came with the OEM brembos? I just reused that metal shim when I replaced my pads to the Vita Nuovas.

 

Yeah, I would just use a thin layer of the disc brake quite goop combined with the OEM metal shims. Should do the job reducing noises and not as squishy as the RB shims.

 

Oem shims are tuned to match oem pads.

http://www.teknik.uu.se/material/Tri...n%20Thesis.pdf

http://www.carquest.com/common/downl...QB%2001-18.pdf

http://lyberty.com/car/Maxima_A32_do.../NTB00-033.pdf