Brake Guide Pins - 99 Maxima

Can someone explain to me why my Maxima has two types of guide pins in the braking system. One has a rubber sleeve on it and the other is a solid pin.

Does it make any difference which pin is used in the caliper guides holes.

The solid one seems to move much more easily than the rubber sleeve one.

I just don’t understand the purpose of the rubber type. Thanks for any insight…

Gary

...One has a rubber sleeve on it and the other is a solid pin....

Needs Pics...

I can't post attachments so I guess I can't post a picture. But they look like a regular brake guide pin with a portion milled out and a rubber round insert slid on the pin to fit in the removed pin area.

I think I got everyone stumped...:) I'm just going to buy new ones and replace them all.

I got a picture if anyone can tell me how to post it. Gary

...I got a picture if anyone can tell me how to post it. Gary

U have to upload your pic first on a server, then reference here its link address between -brackets.

Try to create first account on www.photobucket.com or any similar web service...

Well I think the issue is solved, at least for me, but here is what happened and how I fixed it, hopefully

When I changed the rear rotors, pads and calipers, I did notice that the caliper pin with the rubber insert did not allow the calipers to move easy on the assembly. But I ignored the problem thinking that was the way it was suppose to be on a Nissan. Prior to this all my experience was with US cars.

I did use grease on them, as directed by my service manual.

Well only the outside surface of the rotor was being used for braking, the inside surface did nothing but rust and get ugly looking. In fact one pin was so tight that I had to heat it up to burn the rubber insert to get it out. So I got new caliper pins ( the rubber insert kind only as I cleaned the others) and new rotors and re-installed the brakes. Now the caliper moves, as it should, in the assembly. I also replaced the front brake pins but they didn’t have the rotor issue that the back did. They were real tight also, lots of work to get them out. This was not a rust issue where water/salt sometimes gets into the pin areas on disc brakes and causes all kinds of problems.

Comparing the old pins to the new pins, you can see how the rubber insert expanded. Now I used a Mobil synthetic grease when I replaced the brakes the first time. Maybe that stuff doesn’t like rubber, I don’t know. This time I used a lighter oil (Mystery oil) on the pins. We will see how that works.

No noise from the back brakes now. The car doesn’t pull to the left anymore. So maybe I got it fixed.

When doing a brake job on these beasts beware of the rubber insert pins :)

I still have no idea what the rubber on the pins are for. Neither did the dealer where I got the new parts.

...new pins, you can see how ....

no see

I'm not exactly sure what your talking about with respect to rubber/metal caliper pins but I've had probs with my wife's 01 SE Max. rears. They are notorious for rear caliper problems, at the 1st sign of trouble replace the whole caliper with loaded one would be my advice, I put it off and tried to re-build, free it and it just heated up and took out an ABS wheel sensor (@ $150) Not worth it...