Valve Shim Quality

[danny01975]

I’m about to order some valve shims for my 82 GS. Anyone have any issues with the non-oem shims from Z1? Reason I ask is a friend ordered some for his KZ and they ended up with premature wear marks and some scoring on the cam. This could be completely coincidental and unrelated to the shims.

Anyone else use the Z1 shims or other non-oem shims without issues? Or with issues?

 

[Nessism]

There were some bad shims in circulation, sold by K&L, a few years ago. Something related to the hardness, maybe the heat treatment. The newer shims should be okay, but how to know the shims you are ordering are new or old, bad, shims?

What sizes do you need? I have a large bag of shims, many OEM Suzuki. You may want to post a WTB, specifying OEM only.

FYI, after hearing about the bad K&L shims, I took all my spares to work, where we have a hardness tester, and all seemed fine. Maybe I got lucky, but there you have it...

 

[danny01975]

There were some bad shims in circulation, sold by K&L, a few years ago. Something related to the hardness, maybe the heat treatment. The newer shims should be okay, but how to know the shims you are ordering are new or old, bad, shims?

What sizes do you need? I have a large bag of shims, many OEM Suzuki. You may want to post a WTB, specifying OEM only.

FYI, after hearing about the bad K&L shims, I took all my spares to work, where we have a hardness tester, and all seemed fine. Maybe I got lucky, but there you have it...

Thanks for the helpful info! I’ checked my tolerances and several were <.04 mm. My feeler gauges only went down to .04. And I forgot to check which ones were in there. This is my first time working with shims / buckets.

I’ll have a new feeler gauge that goes down to .02 soon so I can recheck them and get some accurate numbers. Then I’ll make a request and see if anyone here has some OEMs.

 

[bwringer]

The aftermarket shims are fine. I've used many over the years. I think they're pretty much all K&L, but maybe someone else out there is making them.

One difference with OEM is that the aftermarket shims seem to have sharper edges, and they're a sort of matte finish, not shiny. OEM shim edges are relieved a little more, so they're a little easier to insert and remove.

With all of them, the size markings are a weak point, and end up indecipherable or missing fairly often. It's always a very good idea to measure and verify before using anyway. The digital micrometer from Harbor Freight is cheap and fantastic for this.

I've never seen the slightest change on the finish on aftermarket shims, or any cam lobe wear resulting from them. So I suppose I've never seen any of the soft aftermarket shims Ed mentioned.

Another good source is Cycle Recycle II here in Indianapolis. $7.95 each.
https://newmotorcycleparts.net/motor_parts/valve_shims.html

I generally buzz downtown when I need shims, but you can order online.

OEM Suzuki shims are still available down to 2.15mm, but they're $16 - $17 now...