Thanks, that helps a lot.
About the shims, are they the big block that the friction material of the pad is attached to? Like on the piston side brake pad, the block has the retaining clip which fits into the piston, so how would there be room for a shim? If not, what do they look like? Where are they found? I don't remember reading about shims in my Haynes manual, and there was no other pieces in between the caliper and bracket other than the pads.