clips on oem brake pads, not on Repco MMs for Girling dual piston Calipers

[schulz@tif623.ed.ray.com (Peter Schulz)]

 - Sorry this is a little long-

I spent Sunday afternoon replacing the heaviliy worn, original front rotors with cross drilled ones from delta t (thanks Bob!) and Repco Metal Master brake pads.

Although the new brake pads were the same shape as the original, they did not come with the torx bolts and approximately 4 inch long spring clips for the outboard pads. These clips help hold the pad to the pad carrier.  I put a huge quantity of liquid wrench on the bolts, but could not get them out using my torx wrench set.  I'll try again later with a torx bit on a breaker bar, with the pads in a wise.  Even if I am able to remove the clips, I will need to replace the bolts.

Bentley does not shown these clips in their brake section.

After looking at the way the Girling dual piston caliper holds the pads, I decided to try installing the new Repcos without the clips.  I was able to install them without any trouble at all.  Later I spent about a half hour on the road "bedding" the new pads.

The brakes are definitely "stronger" than they were previously. Duh- I had less than 1/8 inch of pad left!

My questions for the day to the list is:  
1.   What are these clips on the pads for???
2.   Do I need to install replacement clips onto the new Repco MMs?
3.   One of each pair Repco MMs came with wires for wear sensors, evidently my car does not have a matching connector for this feature.  Do any fellow Coupe Q or 90 owners have cars with the pad wear sensors?? 

I installed these pads inboard, pulled through the wire, and tie-wrapped it to the brakelines.  

4. Should I just have clipped the wear sensor wires off???

Sorry for the bandwidth, but I'm puzzled!

Peter Schulz
1990 Coupe Q 82k+ miles ( and new front brakes!)