Brake Caliper Piston Boot/Dust cover

Replacing my pads tonight and notice the rubber piston boot is all torn up with the ring loose on passenger side upper piston.

Opinions on available upgraded calipers, rebuilding the existing?

Looks like $350 for a new OEM caliper, $80 for an O'Riley's....or rebuild myself...or upgrade???

Running EBC slotted rotors and pads. Would not be opposed to upgrading caliper and putting in some SS lines.

Thoughts?

 

The new caliper seals and boots are only about $20 from Toyota for enough to do both sides. Be sure to take your VIN number with you because there was a design change mid way through 2006.

 

In my experience with German cars, caliper makers include Ate and TRW, and they can come as aluminum but zinc-coated/plated for corrosion protection and to be a smooth bore surface. Since that is the only limited experience I have to draw from, I wonder if it applies to Toyota.
If it does, then multiple things can happen. The seals can stretch. The boots can tear. And the bore can get messed up, but only in severe cases.
If yours is not, then hopefully it can be rebuilt. ie a rebuild kit from wherever, hopefully good quality. Which means a new boot, new seal, installation grease, or more.
People use different things for lube. Some use Castrol Red Rubber grease. Others use nothing at all, and use DOT4, claiming it works. I don't know about that though, because rubber grease claims to keep the seal's moisture in/hydrated, protect the bore surface, and keep DOT4 in while keeping water and the environment out.
With that zinc plating, supposedly it's not good to hone or abrade because that removes it.
Eric at PMB Performance is one place that has worked on expensive old cars such as Porsche, restoring their calipers by replating them.

I don't know if the lines should be replaced with rubber, or if SS is worth the money.

But if you install a reman caliper, I would wonder about the quality.
Long story short, regarding the companies that offer reman calipers, I heard the quality sucks with most of them.

I heard Centric seals (cheap) run too tight and prevent full caliper piston retracting during off braking. I'm not sure how to diagnose that; if one can measure with a temp-gun after coasting.

 

Rebuilding is the cheapest option... $20 at dealer.

I decided to upgrade the whole thing... went with power stop calipers, rotors, pads and some SS brake lines. $450... about the same amount of my time to install... so upgraded. Arrives Thursday!!!

 

My alignment is pretty straight on...but I do get a wander to the right. Running factory UAs. Does anyone have any experience with SPC UAs improving anything else aside from alignment...like ride quality. Thinking about putting on new UAs when everything is off.

 

I have a 2015 Tacoma. I noticed when I changed my breaks that one of the dust boot covers on the piston were torn. You can buy these at the Toyota dealership for 20 bucks. It comes with the gasket seal, the dust boot covers, and the retaining metal clip for the dust boot cover. To just change the dust boot cover you do not need to replace the caliper, or remove the piston. If the caliper is functioning properly, just replace the dust boot. It was a simple job, didn’t even remove the caliper from the truck.

 

I replaced my calipers last fall after 10 years of service. I noticed the dust seals on the pistons (only the pistons on the side of the caliper closet to the engine) where torn. In the pics below, the inside of the piston cups are rusty on the side where the boots failed. I am going to add replacing the boots to preventative maintenance list and do every few years whether it needs it or not.

Did you just remove the pads and then replace the boots? Any tricks to this or just a matter of just popping off the retaining ring, remove boot, and replace with new boot and ring?

 

not a bad idea to do a caliper rebuild around the 10 year mark

rebuild: ~$20

replace: ~$250

 

And I thought I was the only one who was old enough to still know how to rebuild a caliper! I even still have my hone for the cylinder bores.

 

So to extend the piston I wanted to replace the boot on, I kept the pads on the opposite side of the caliper I wanted to extend. You’ll need the piston extended just enough to slip the dust boot on the end groove of the piston. Then it’s just putting the other end of the dust boot over the rim at the base and sliding the ring on. Having another person help hold the boot on and run the ring around will speed things up.

 

resurrecting this thread…so to extend the piston you wanted to replace the dust boot on, you just apply some brake pressure? Obviously there’s 2 pistons per side, do you let them both extend if you’re only replacing one? I would just worry about overextending them during this process

 

Normally you would put them on a bench and extend them all with compressed air and a block of wood where the pads go to keep them from going flying, when you put new seals and dust boots as 100k maintenance

Earpro for the noise. Eye pro for the splashing droplets of brake fluid

 

Yes, I just used the hydraulics from the brake to extend the piston. I had another person watch the piston extend. You def don’t want to over extend and have the piston extend past the caliper o-ring. You just need enough extension to operate at the end of the piston and base of caliper separately.

 

Anyone know the part number for this kit? Apparently it comes with both types of dust boot. I'm thinking of having a spare set on hand, maybe change them in a few years before they dry out.

 

Thanks. I also see an

$29 04479-60081 TOYOTA Caliper Repair Kit - 04479-60081

04479-60081. I'm not sure which comes with the 'no ring' dust boots. I think the 04479-60081 contains both sets, but not sure.

 

Hey guys, have a small tear in my one boot on my 2021. Just want to confirm that the caliper design didn't change between gen2 and gen3, the PN should still be

$24 04478-04050 Toyota Genuine Parts - Cylinder Kit,Fr Disc (04478-04050)

04478-04050 right?

 

For anybody in the future that's unsure about fixing a torn boot vs getting a new caliper, just fix the boot. It's one of the easier maintenance items I've ever done.

$24 Toyota Genuine Parts - Cylinder Kit,Fr Disc (04478-04050)

04478-04050 is the correct PN. That includes 8x boots and attachment rings as well as bleeder valve covers and some grease. $20 and it was to my dealers parts dept the morning after I ordered it. Same stuff for 3rd gen.