I took another look at the 'instructions' - it definitely refers to them as shims. They seem to be flat pieces of metal, no coating on them other than black paint on one side and a adhesive on the other-so if they're anti-rattle I can't imagine them being very suited for it. If that's their only function I suppose I can leave them off for the time being, and if the brakes get noisy then I could always go ahead and pull the pads and install them...
Quote:
Did they specifically call them shims?
I did the brakes recently on my F body wagon which has the same brakes as your donor. It came with no "shims" or anything like what you describe.
Could just be anti-rattle/squeal stuff. 
