Loose guide pins

#1

Im putting the brakes together on my project car. Im noticing that the front guide pin/ bolts are fairly loose fitting in the sleeves. Are these sleeves replaceable? How do they come out? I think its the sleeves that are worn because the same bolt is noticeably looser in some sleeves in comparison to other sleeves. Thanks

Ray

#2

If ATE calipers, the guide bushings are replaceable. On a track car I’d say they are good for three years.

#3

They’re Girling

Ray

#4

The sliding bolts are replaceable on Girling too. They tend to be a little sloppier than you would like but replacing them should make a difference in caliper performance/pad wear (i.e. straighter)

#5

I see a kit available that includes the guide pins but what about the bushing?

Ray

#6

There isn’t one. The caliper slides on the pins. Just guessing here, but it would make sense for the pin to be a consumable, i.e. softer, and the caliper to have minimal or no wear.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/ksearch/pel_search_2014.cgi?SUPERCAT_FLAG=Y&make=BMW&please_wait=N&LastVisited_input=&Previous_Section=&forumid=&threadid=&command=DWsearch&description=34-11-1-161-936

#7

Has anybody tried just pins? I seem to recall the receptacle on the caliper is a pressed in part (no service parts available that I know of) which is part of the reason we’ve been doing remans every so often.

#8

The only reason Im questioning the bushings is because I took one of the pins and inserted it into all of the bushings and saw a definitive difference in play. If the pin was the worn item I think it would have the same play in all of the bushings.

If the bushings are worn, I think I’d have to replace the calipers with remanufactured ones. Pelican has them for $50 each. Im just paranoid that the quality of the materials used won’t be the same and may lead to safety issues.

Ray

#9

I suppose YMMV, but by now you probably are more expert on this subject than I. My experience is I’ve been running the same Girling calipers since buying my first E30 in 2003, on probably their 3rd set of guide pins (spread across 4 actual cars). The calipers are probably original to the 1990 first car. My pad wear is straight enough I don’t consider it a problem.

I’ve seen some reman calipers and, frankly, they scare me. I’d gladly trade a bit of uneven wear from calipers I trust vs. hoping they don’t crack down the middle while approaching T1 at Road Atl.