Patent ID: 8051958

Claim:
A guide pin adapted for use in a vehicle disc brake assembly comprising: a first end including a head portion; a second end including an end face and a lead-in zone, the lead-in zone provided with a rounded generally bullet nose shaped radius adapted for insertion into an aperture of a component of the vehicle disc brake assembly; and a center section defining a shank having a slide surface, the center section defining a guide pin axis; wherein the bullet nose shaped radius of the lead-in zone includes an axial offset relative to the end face and a radial offset relative to the slide surface, and wherein the axial offset is larger than the radial offset by a ratio of at least 2 to 1; wherein the shank portion is provided with only two slots formed therein along a portion thereof; wherein the two slots are arranged on the shank portion of the guide pin generally one-hundred and eighty degrees apart from each other; wherein the slide surface is defined on the shank portion of the guide pin at least in an area defined between the two slots thereof; wherein the first end of the guide pin further includes at least one indicia provided thereon; and wherein the at least one indicia is arranged in alignment with at least one of the two slots of the shank portion in order to enable the guide pin to be installed in a guide pin bore provided in the vehicle disc brake assembly with the two slots of the shank portion oriented in a predetermined position in the guide pin bore such that a pair of reactive loads which are generated during brake actuation are applied only against the slide surface of the guide pin and are not applied against the two slots of the guide pin.