Guides (linear plain bearings) of reciprocating motion are widely used in many areas of human activity. However, at present there are no reasonable methods for their calculation, in particular metal-polymer guides. The author's method of contact strength calculation of cylindrical metal-polymer sliding guides is presented in the article. The effect of load, bushing diameter and radial clearance on the maximum contact pressures and their distribution in the guide was studied on the example of epoxy-based polymer composite material Moglice of the German company DIAMANT Metallplastic GmbH, which is used to restore tribotechnical sliding systems elements. Quantitative and qualitative regularities of dependence of contact pressures on the accepted factors of influence are established: at loading increase four times the maximum contact pressures and contact angles will increase twice irrespective of change of sizes of a radial clearance and diameter of a base; increasing the base diameter leads to a directly proportional decrease in maximum contact pressures; doubling the radial clearance leads to a -fold increase in pressure, regardless of changes in the magnitude of the load and the diameter of the base. Regularities of change of contact parameters from the specified factors are given graphically.