while inspecting my brake pads i noticed uneven pad wear

front pads have about 90% life left with pad and rotor deformation most of the damage was on the rear side or the rotor
hear is the pic

rear driver side looks to be normal with 50% life left where i was thinking all the pads would be

rear passenger is about 70%life left with rotor and pad deformation

as i was taking front caliper off ...one caliper was missing one of the shims as you can see in the pic under marked with 1st arrow....and i am unable to fined the replacement .....

- can i reinstall the caliper without them??

marked by the second arrow are brake pad shims are they really necessary
i know they are supposed to reduce break squeal/noise




as of right now i rebuilt front calipers and got the new rotors and pads on the way and brake fluid

and i cant find rebuild kit for rear caliper


as most of my braking looks to have been done by the rear
what do you guys think caused my problem

is it just bad combination of pads and rotors with stuck calipers or it could be more like problems with abs

 

i found rear caliper rebuild kit at Atkinsrotary
and hardware kit from mazda

only thing i am missing is the shims on the front and Mazda only sells them with new calipers if anyone has any i would buy them ...the one i am missing is marked in pic under

they are only 0.015" thick so i don't think it would make much difference if i just take them off
i was looking at washers and found some on jegs at 0.015" thick but OD and ID where bit larger

 

Without measuring thickness and warping it's difficult to say what the problem was exactly. I see the discoloration you're talking about but that isn't anything unusual with a set of old brakes.

I think your right that a set of new pads and rotors is in order. I would go ahead and just buy a pair of rebuilt rear calipers with the hardware kit. Try to find OEM, not a crappy Taiwan re-casting. So that means 90% of what they'll give you at autozone. You can tell just by comparing your old ones to the "new" ones. They should give you all the springs, pins, clips, washers, etc. If not you can buy the hardware kit from the dealership. Just makes sure you're using the same pads front and rear, don't mismatch.

 

i am having hard time finding the replacement shims Mazda will only sell them with new calipers ....they are 0.015" thick