diff --git a/test/unit/test_shapetracker.py b/test/unit/test_shapetracker.py
index 295f2ef353..4a0a569ee4 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_shapetracker.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_shapetracker.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ def shapetracker_getitem(st, val):
 class CheckingShapeTracker:
   def __init__(self, shape):
     self.st = ShapeTracker(shape)
-    self.t = np.arange(prod(shape), dtype=np.int).reshape(shape)
+    self.t = np.arange(prod(shape), dtype=np.int32).reshape(shape)
 
   @property
   def shape(self):
diff --git a/tinygrad/shape/__init__.py b/tinygrad/shape/__init__.py
index 7967bbfe54..7a7484661b 100644
--- a/tinygrad/shape/__init__.py
+++ b/tinygrad/shape/__init__.py
@@ -165,22 +165,25 @@ class ShapeTracker:
 
   # *** under this line are not invertible ***
 
-  # TODO: take this functionality out of slice
+  def _resize(self, arg : Tuple[Tuple[int, int], ...]):
+    offset = sum([self.strides[i]*x for i,(x,_) in enumerate(arg)])
+    self.views[-1] = View(tuple(y-x for x,y in arg), self.strides, self.offset+offset)
+
   def pad(self, arg : Tuple[Tuple[int, int], ...]) -> ShapeTracker:
     assert isinstance(arg, tuple)
     assert all((b>=0 and e>=0) for b,e in arg) and len(arg) == len(self.shape)
-    return self.shrink(tuple((-b,s+e) for s,(b,e) in zip(self.shape, arg)))
+    if all(b==0 and e==0 for b,e in arg): return self   # ZeroView is expensive if we don't need it
+    zvarg = tuple((-b,s+e) for s,(b,e) in zip(self.shape, arg))
+    zeroview = ZeroView(self.shape, zvarg)
+    self._resize(zvarg)
+    # if we add a ZeroView, we add another (stock) view also for modding
+    self.views += [zeroview, View(self.shape, strides_for_shape(self.shape))]
+    return self
 
-  # TODO: take the pad functionality out of shrink
   def shrink(self, arg : Tuple[Tuple[int, int], ...]) -> ShapeTracker:
     assert isinstance(arg, tuple)
     assert len(arg) == len(self.shape)
-    offset = sum([self.strides[i]*x for i,(x,_) in enumerate(arg)])
-    zeroview = ZeroView(self.shape, arg)
-    self.views[-1] = View(tuple(y-x for x,y in arg), self.strides, self.offset+offset)
-    if zeroview.expr_node().min == 0:  # may be invalid
-      # if we add a ZeroView, we add another (stock) view also for modding
-      self.views += [zeroview, View(self.shape, strides_for_shape(self.shape))]
+    self._resize(arg)
     return self
 
   def expand(self, new_shape : Tuple[int, ...]) -> ShapeTracker:
@@ -191,7 +194,7 @@ class ShapeTracker:
     self.views[-1] = View(new_shape, strides, self.offset)
     return self
 
-  # TODO: combine with slice? this doesn't require a ZeroView, though slice shouldn't always either
+  # TODO: combine with flip? this is more generic than we need
   def stride(self, mul : Tuple[int, ...]) -> ShapeTracker:
     assert isinstance(mul, tuple)
     assert all(isinstance(x, int) for x in mul)