Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Brakes Titanium shims? Not Contour related.

I was surfing through an online shop the other day and ran across some titanium shims. The site was saying that they will help stop/slow heat transfer from the backing plates to the caliper/piston(s)/fluid. With the limited space available in the systems that I have worked on I would think that the shims would have to be so thin the help from the titanium would be almost nothing. Then even if it could cool faster then the surrounding parts, the heat transfer coming from all the steel and aluminum parts would keep at the same temperature as the surrounding parts.

They were expensive and not for anything that I drive, but I wanted to get others opinions on the find.

Smells like snake oil to me. It's got the word titanium & anybody that throws that magic word around is gonna make some money.

I'd be very interested to see the tech, but I bring none. Obviously it sounds like snake oil - Ti conducts heat pretty well, possibly better than the goop you put on backing plates.

The kicker for me: When has boiling fluid been an issue? Run good fluid and flush often.

Shims can help a decent amount. What you are doing with shims is creating additional thermal barriers for the heat to cross to get to the pistons and ultimately the brake fluid. Its the same concept as putting fiberglass insulation in the walls of your house.

Now, as far as how good Ti is, I dunno, haven't checked the #'s, or actually used Ti shims, but I have used stainless steel shims to good effect.

You're talking about track use, right Rara? I can't see these being of any use (worth the cost) on the street. Heat does degrade fluid, but as far as I know Contours do pretty well on yearly fluid changes without getting too bad.