What’s that noise? It sounds like it’s coming from the front end or suspension. Let’s dive into if it’s that’s the culprit or if it’s the caliper guide pins.
Rattle, rattle, rattle…
Written by Darren Caldwell
Caliper Guide Pins
Don’t get caught out. A knock or rattle that sounds like a worn bush is becoming more common with today’s disc brake caliper designs. Caliper designs on the majority of vehicles today use what’s called a floating caliper. It consists of a housing that contains the piston or pistons, guide pins attached to the housing, and a mounting frame where the guide pins run. Manufacturers commonly use aluminum for the housing, hardened steel for the guide pins, and cast iron for the mounting bracket. Research over a broad cross section of vehicles that use the floating caliper design has shown that a knock or rattle can occur with only minimal amounts of wear over the manufacturer’s maximum tolerance.
How can I prove it’s the caliper?
Drive the vehicle on a corrugated road at low speed and, when the rattle occurs, gently apply the brakes. If the problem is in the caliper guide pins the rattle will stop temporarily with the application of the brakes.
What do manufacturers do to overcome the problem?
Manufacturers from around the world incorporate a rubber sleeve on one of the guide pins to overcome this issue. The manufacturer produces the guide pin with the rubber sleeve 0.5mm or 0.020 of an inch smaller than the pins without the rubber sleeve and includes a groove to accommodate the sleeve. The issue with this approach is that the guide pin with the rubber sleeve is very reliant on the rubber sleeve being in good condition.
Our Solution
What we’ve done to overcome this issue is to manufacture oversized guide pins like PW20006 to incorporated a rubber sleeve on both guide pins. An oversized guide pin reduces reliance on the condition of the sleeve, and sleeving both guide pins doubles the prevention of caliper rattle.
Check out our range of Upgrade Guide Pin kits below and solve that never resolved rattle today.
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