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Are new brake fitting kits a must when fitting new pads , or is it OK/safe to reuse the existing ?

If your using just pads search for a post made years ago by regie regarding pad fitment

I've just been reusing the old ones. AFAIK it is just to prevent noises and such from pads? Also the springs to keep pads from sticking on rotors; if they aren't springy then they aren't doing their job.

Basically yeah, the W springs can be used over and over until they stop being springy.

The shims can also be re-used.


What exactly does a Brake fitting kit include?

you should just need (for pads only):

Pads
Spanner/sockets (to undo caliper)
Clamp (to push piston back in)
High Temp Grease (to lube slider pins)
Allen key (to retract piston)

And then an empty section of road to bed the pads in correctly.

Thanks everyone

The fitting kits comprise a number of springs, backing plates and clips, the kits differ from front to rear.

I have a fairly good collection of tools and the knowledge to do the job thanks to a couple of good tutorials a workshop manual and haveing done both pad and shoe replascements on a fair few of my previous cars, I just wasn't sure about reusing the peripheral bits on these, on some vehicles it's just a 'don't even think about it'

Fair enough, pretty much everything can be re-used.

And depending on the brand of pads they might come with shims in teh box.

One set of mine did (Raysbestos for the rear), and the others didn't (Axxis for the front)

Reagrdless, if a set of $20 pads came with shims, I would assume the more expensive ones should.