The two boots then come off (they are screw in, but the screw part is rubber, too). Then clean the inside of this area with cleaner and a paper towel and also the sliding bushing itself.

 

Now on the top of the caliper (blue box), there is a also a dust boot (yellow box), this needs to be removed. This is where the main pin goes in. The hole where the main pin goes in will be shown in the next post.

 

Clean the hole of the main pin using some cleaner, a paper towel and a cotton swab.

 

Clean the main pin (first photo) and sliding bushing (second photo). Let them sit and dry as we will lube them up later.

 

Now on to the dust boot for the caliper piston.

Take your flathead screwdriver and carefully stick it and push the rubber toward the center (toward the piston itself). A piece of rubber should be able to lift up and then you can grab it. It can get bad as shown in the second photo and you can take a small paper of scissors and nip the rubber bit by bit to get it out. The metal ring should be easily visible at this point to remove it.

 

Then clean the area with a paper towel. If you get a small enough cotton swab you may be able to get it in there, but the clearance is really tight.

One dry, remember to place a bit of the Permatex Ultra Disc Brake Lube on the piston itself as we did with the front pistons.

 

Once clean and dry, seat the new boot on the piston. Two hands (rather than two fingers) work better here as it can be a pain to stretch the boot on. You have to tuck the edge of the boot with a screwdriver into a crevice that sits around the circumference of the area where the piston sits into the caliper.

 

Then you have to put the ring in. That requires putting one part of it in as shown and then seating it with your hands and a flathead screwdriver bit by bit until it is as far in as it can go and sits inside the crevice mentioned earlier. It should not be visible at the end.

 

Once in, it should look like this.

 

Now lube up the main pin and the sliding bushing with dielectric grease.

 

With the two rubber boots and sliding bushing, I recommend putting on one bushing first, put the sliding bushing through that side with the first boot and then putting on the other bushing on the other side. Also remember to put the new rubber boot on that goes on the area where the main pin goes on the top of the caliper.

 

Put the caliper back on and remember to clean these pad support plates with cleaner and paper towel on both sides.

You may have to push on the brake pedal a bit after working on them, but you should be good to go after that.

Again, I don't recommend removing the brake lines and taking the caliper physically off unless you are prepared to be bleed the brakes correctly afterwards.

 

Thank, Lexmex, for this DIY! I replaced the brake pads yesterday and discovered that the boot/rubber seal on the left rear caliper piston was torn! I ended up servicing the caliper and lubing everything and pushing the piston back with the torn boot (I needed the car the next day). I was contemplating that I would need to replace the caliper and now, it appears, that all I need is the seal and a new ring!

I suppose, I should not drive too long with a torn boot, should I?

 

I would never tide too long on a torn boot. I sometimes had to stick with the torn issue (rubber anything), until I could get a replacement part (either from U.S.) or something sourced locally that could work in a jam. At least we have the luxury in this country of getting something next day air or at the dealer.

 

Yes, I am going to pick the seal and the ring this week and replace it asap. Is it more difficult to pick the old boot/seal out if the piston is depressed all the way due to new pads or it should not really matter that much?