I am working on a brake job for a 2008 Cooper S. While working on the fronts, I noticed that the lower caliper guide bolts did not move in and out like the top ones, and did not allow me to put the caliper back in place with the new rotor and pads. Both left and right front wheels were the same. Top one moves freely, bottom one is stuck.

I tapped it a few times with a hammer and flat screwdriver to see if it would easily move and it doesn't. I put a wrench on it and it does rotate though. To get my car back to the road I gave the bolt a good smack with a hammer to move it in a bit to allow me to mount the caliper. Everything else went smoothly and the breaks feel good while driving. But I worry that it will cause issues down the road.

I have started doing a bunch or research now on these bolts, and it looks like the top guide bolts are smooth metal ones, and I am guessing the bottom ones have a rubber like section like this: (I have not gotten them out yet, but from what I have read they are like this:


If they are lubed incorrectly they swell and seize in place. I am guessing that is what happened to me. So I am guessing I will need to replace them once I get them out.

When I go to the auto parts store they show me these as the replacements like this:


These look like the bolts that go on the top. I am fine replacing parts with something that is not OEM, but I want to make sure that this would not break something. Has anyone replaced a caliper guide bolts with these on the bottom and it worked?

Does anyone know if the rear caliper bolts have this rubber section?

thanks!

 

More searching on this forum and found this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...guide-pin.html

The link to replacement rubber parts only, but I am not 100% sure that they are for the r56? Has anyone else used these with success?
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...c=1#fragment-2

 

Does anyone know if the rear brakes have the all metal caliper pins, or ones with rubber?

 

No rubber on the rears on my 2012 R60.