I think I was confused.

Why would one need to put 4 shims per pad? Why wouldn't someone just let the caliper piston take up the space?

I dont think any of my cars have shims on their pads.

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82 300SD 145k
89 420SEL 210k
89 560SEL 118k
90 300SE 262k RIP 5/25/2010
90 560SEL 154k
91 300D 2.5 Turbo. 241k
93 190E 3.0 235k
93 300E 195k

Maybe just something they came up with they thought was better, if they were really thin like he says.

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The W124 floating caliper does use shims, e.g. if you buy autozone pads you will see it comes with sheet metal clipped on its back, that is the shim. I however used the box of textars I had in my parts bin

my car had super sharp literally razor thin shims 4 per pad - annoying as heck, cut up my mechanix gloves I simply used one shim per pad with antisieze as antisqueal.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

My 81 300SD has always had shims. I spray the blue stuff on it and let it get tacky before sticking it to the brake pad. Lost one once (or something - not sure) and made one from a tin can lid. It worked just fine; may still be in there. Think they are in there to prevent rattle.