I started to post this as an answer to "Rear alignment shim and hub bolt torque" by The Critic but the new site doesn't put up a header for replies and I wanted to be sure that everyone understands that these damn shims will not work on the G3 disk brake cars. During my EZ shim install a couple months back I was spooked by the amount of tightening the hub bolts required to reach the required torque. I called SPC tech support and was assured that this was normal. Watching The Critic cheat death prompted me to tear into my car and look things over. My shims were intact(probably because I drilled bolt holes rather than breaking out the tabs as the directions say) but I found the hub bolts had loosened to only 20 ft-lbs. This simply means that the shims continue to compress over time and so are NG from both a safety and alignment standpoint. I installed a pair of Northstar 1/4 degree shims which I assume are the same as The Critic used the second time around. These shims are sold under a number of brand names including Raybestos which I bought from Rockauto. I think these shims are also sold into the "Affinia" conglomerate and distributed as NAPA, Moog,Federal Mogul, Spicer and who knows what else. The point is to verify the Northstar supplier when purchasing. They are still "plastic" (some kinda glass-filled nylon) but are much thinner stiffer, and harder than the EZ shims and the hub bolts pulled right down. I'll motor around for a while and then recheck the hub bolt torque. I should mention that I drilled holes for the hub bolts instead of breaking out the tabs as the directions say in order to preserve as much bearing area as possible ("drilled" is not quite accurate-I ground out the holes with a zip bit in my Dremel Moto-Tool using the hubs as templates- the shim material is kinda brittle and would probably break if attacked with a twist bit.
Well, FWIW, all Gen 3 Prius liftbacks have 4-wheel disc brakes. It was the US (and a few other markets?) Gen 2 that got rear drums. I can't speak to Affinia but they have a bunch of different brands (per AFFINIA - Home , About Us > Brands). Federal Mogul has a whole bunch too ( Federal-Mogul Brands ).
