Brake shims; do I really need them?

[GoldDiggerRoo]

So I put front brakes on my wagon today, and when I did, I noticed that the drivers side didn't have a shim at all and the pass side was too rusted to even put back on. Now the car is back together and driving I have some squeal on the drivers side, it could be caused by the crap rotor that is on there (both were pitted by rust since the car sat for almost 2 years, but the drivers side had some metal to metal contact with the old pads, or lack thereof) or it could be the lack of shims. Do I really need to replace the shims, apparently I drove for almost 2 years without the one on the drivers side and no problems. Also, when I pulled the drivers side caliper straight up to screw in the piston, a bunch of fluid ran out, anyone have an idea on the cause of this?

[Manarius]

Eh, never cared about the shims on my car. They didn't affect anything either.

[daeron]

if the line was open and you spilled fluid from there as you were depressing the piston, thats to be expected. if nothing was open and you squirted fluid, the caliper is probably shot.

 

also, if the surface of the rotors was pitted then i hope you at least had them turned.... its like ten or fifteen bucks usually at a machine shop (here at least) and its almost a must every other (if not every) disc brake job...and the rotor can only be resurfaced to a certain point, before it becomes too thin.

 

the shims help stop the squeal. if you have everything else right and you get a squeal, order the brake hardware kit. its not expensive.