Brake piston - rubber boot/sleeve

[gan1hck]

I was changing out my pads for a track event coming next week and noted that one of the rubber boots around one of my brake pistons (stock set up) has small tears in it.

Is this a big deal? ie something that will lead to fluid leaks, failure, etc....

or not?

I mean my car is only one year old and has barely 12,000 miles on it...although it goes to the track every chance I get.

thanks in advance.

[TXmtrhed]

Originally Posted by gan1hck

I was changing out my pads for a track event coming next week and noted that one of the rubber boots around one of my brake pistons (stock set up) has small tears in it.

Is this a big deal? ie something that will lead to fluid leaks, failure, etc....

or not?

I mean my car is only one year old and has barely 12,000 miles on it...although it goes to the track every chance I get.

thanks in advance.

Replace it when you can as it keeps dirt and water out. And since you track a lot, the holes are probably from high brake pad temps. Ti shims work really well at insulating the caliper boots (and pistons) from the pads.

[gan1hck]

Originally Posted by TXmtrhed

Replace it when you can as it keeps dirt and water out. And since you track a lot, the holes are probably from high brake pad temps. Ti shims work really well at insulating the caliper boots (and pistons) from the pads.

thanks for the info.

Along the same line of thought, how often do folks have to have their calipers refitted/rebuilt because of wear like I'm describing?

Seems premature for a 1 year old car

Would like to hear the experiences of others who drive their cars hard.

[M3PO]

Originally Posted by gan1hck

thanks for the info.

Along the same line of thought, how often do folks have to have their calipers refitted/rebuilt because of wear like I'm describing?

Seems premature for a 1 year old car

Would like to hear the experiences of others who drive their cars hard.

The boots are easy to replace. The only other thing to do would be to replace the seal behind the boot. That won't need to be done for years.

[bondon]

I have been having the same issue with a tear in the boots on both front calipers after some extensive track use. I brought it into the dealer to see what they would say and they said the only option was to replace both calipers and quoted ~$1500 for the fix ($750 per caliper). Needless to say I'm headed to my regular mechanic... or might use it as a justification for a big brake kit in the front.

[gan1hck]

Originally Posted by bondon

I have been having the same issue with a tear in the boots on both front calipers after some extensive track use. I brought it into the dealer to see what they would say and they said the only option was to replace both calipers and quoted ~$1500 for the fix ($750 per caliper). Needless to say I'm headed to my regular mechanic... or might use it as a justification for a big brake kit in the front.

my dealer replaced the boots under warranty.

[bondon]

Interesting! Mine said it was not covered under warranty, though I'm now under CPO-extended warranty and not the original warranty.

[dogbone]

I have AP Racing brakes on my car. The car is tracked a couple times a month. A few weeks ago, on the rear calipers, we replaced all the dust boots in both calipers. 7 of the 8 dust boots were cracked after 15 months of use.

The front AP pistons have different seals than the rears. So, there hasn't been issue with the fronts yet.

Supposedly, I have "high temperature" dust boots on there now.......not sure why they even bother making a "low temperature" version.......these are brakes for goodness sake!

Anyway, the point is, given the crazy temperatures these things have to endure, the cracking is pretty common. Other AP Racing guys have seen it too. I would not replace my caliper because of the boot cracking. That sounds like terrible advice.