Nissan Sentra - 2 different caliper bolts?

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Mar 17, 2011
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I did a pad and rotor change on the front of my 2004 Nissan Sentra 1.8L. Pretty easy and straight forward, but I did find it a little unusual that there were 2 different caliper bolts (one of each on each side).
1 has a rubber insert on the shaft of the slide pin and the other has just a plain steel shaft with a flat surface machined on part of the shaft.
Anyone have any idea why they are different?
Does it matter whether the one with the rubber insert goes on the top or the bottom of the caliper

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The rubber is a vibration damper, it goes on top from what I can tell. That bottom pin looks like crap, replace it and lube the new one(s) with silicone based lube.
 
I had to do brake pads on my Subaru and noticed the same thing. The scary thing is I had everything apart when I first got the car and didn't notice that. Oh well.
 
Put it back in the hole it was in. Clean out the holes and wipe the pins clean. Any rust or pitting replace. Don't go overboard with Syl-guide grease.

The pin with the rubber sleeve may not slide in easily. I assume between rubber and grease there is air locked at the bottom of the hole. I put the caliper bracket in a vise and slowly use the vise to push in the pin with rubber sleeve.
 
Yeah, the Hondas, Subarus and I thought Nissans I've had, the rubber grommet one went in the lower hole. You probably wouldn't notice the difference if it went in the wrong hole.
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Originally Posted by Fitz98
Does it matter whether the one with the rubber insert goes on the top or the bottom of the caliper

Yes, it matters (well, sorta). If you want to put it where it belongs, you'll probably need to consult a factory service manual. On '08-'10 Accords, Honda put out a tech document reiterating which position the rubber bushed pin goes because in the wrong position, it was causing excessive brake pad wear.

Originally Posted by Donald
Put it back in the hole it was in.

That presumes it was in the correct position when the OP removed it.

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
On Hondas the rubber tipped slider goes on the bottom.

That's not correct across the board. I checked for various Hondas we have or have had and it varies across models, if it's the front or rear brakes, etc.
 
Originally Posted by JTK
Yeah, the Hondas, Subarus and I thought Nissans I've had, the rubber grommet one went in the lower hole. You probably wouldn't notice the difference if it went in the wrong hole.
shocked.gif



I mixed up the ones in the rear of our '06 CR-V when the car was one year old.
So, I put the rubber one on the bottom on one side, and on the top, on the other side.

The V has 188,000 miles on it now, still stops fine.
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I noticed that when I removed my factory caliper bracket bolts, the rubber grommet was at either the top or the bottom. So, I don't think it matters where they go. They didn't seem to care at the factory where they put'em.
 
Originally Posted by Carbuff
Originally Posted by JTK
Yeah, the Hondas, Subarus and I thought Nissans I've had, the rubber grommet one went in the lower hole. You probably wouldn't notice the difference if it went in the wrong hole.
shocked.gif



I mixed up the ones in the rear of our '06 CR-V when the car was one year old.
So, I put the rubber one on the bottom on one side, and on the top, on the other side.

The V has 188,000 miles on it now, still stops fine.
crazy.gif


Trav said it was for vibration dampening, so it's not a critical part of the braking system.

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IMO this is one of those cases where they should have used a different thread pitch or hole diam, so that it'd be impossible to install wrong. When it matters, just make it impossible to screw up--I get it, ya should go by the manual, but some things are not rocket science, we'd expect to have to RTFM when assembly an engine, but not for a plain jane caliper.

Then again, as Carbuff points out, swapping is probably of little consequence, so
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I downloaded a manual online.
It does not differentiate between the 2 pins or the location.
I called the dealer and they have the same part number for both pins (22.00 each), which would mean they are both the same.
For lubrication, the manual shows silicone based grease on the shims and rubber grease on both pins. I just used Permatex synthetic green brake grease on all sliding parts.
I think at this point, I will just have to assume the location of the one with the rubber does not matter.
I had the brakes serviced by someone else previously, so no guarantee the position is as it was from the factory.
I did not pay attention to driver's side, so it is a 50/50 chance it is in the same position as removed. The passenger side pin with the rubber sleeve was removed from top and reinstalled in same position.
 
The brake parts diagram doesn't show either pin with a rubber bushing and as you mentioned, the p/n for both pins are the same. I wonder if someone replaced a pin at some point in time ?
 
The pin with the rubber bush goes on the leading pin - this gives a slight delay so the trailing edge of the pad contacts first stopping pad squeal. Of course I've seen the opposite, notably from Toyota.
 
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