I THINK I understand what you are talking about but... doesn't matter. When it comes to shims, I will give you some sure-fire simple advice.
Get yourself three plastic drink bottles all with different material thickness. Usually, Walmart cheap-0 water bottles are the thinnest and Coke bottles are the thickest.
Cut the shims in strips from the plastic bottles to suit your needs. Works on handlebars, seat posts, etc and you won't have any squeak sounds like you do with metal shims.
Cut them long so they are easy to handle as you out the shim and bike parts together, then trim off the excess when you have everything in-place and tightened down.
Enjoy
Last edited by mike; 04-15-11 at 05:14 PM.