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Quoted From sirwilliam:
How do I go about changing my front break caliper boots for a 1993 Civic LX 4 doors?
If you are rebuilding your calipers and have the rebuild kits with the new dust boot and inner seal, you have to remove the piston(s) and install the new boot and seal. I’m not sure how the Honda calipers are set up but for my 1996 Neon I remove the calipers from the vehicle. Remove the brake fluid from the inside of the caliper. Then if the caliper piston has not seized and can move freely I use air (about 5 psi), injected into where the flexible brake line was attached to the caliper, to remove the piston boot and seal from the caliper. I use a small piece of scrap wood to stop the piston so it does not get damaged when it comes out of the caliper when I use the air to force it out. Then I remove the old boot and seal, clean out the old fluid that was in with the caliper piston, check to see if there is any damage to the inside of the caliper that may require honing. Put the seal inside the cavity for the piston after dousing it with clean brake fluid, attach the new boot to the piston and lubricate the part of the piston that goes back inside the caliper with clean brake fluid and slowly push the caliper piston back inside the caliper remembering that the piston must go in through the seal without damaging the new seal. Once the caliper piston is all the way back in attach the other part of the boot to the caliper. Then I remove the bleeder screw and check that there is a clear path for the brake fluid to come out and clean the threads and put some never seize on the threads so it doesn’t rust inside it’s threaded hole and break off when I try and loosen sometime in the future when I need to bleed my brakes. Breaking one off in a caliper or wheel cylinder is not fun trying to remove.
Like I said I’m not familiar with how your 1993 Honda is set up but I hope this may help you with your caliper rebuild project. (I think that is what you are trying to do?)
Wow great details, thank you. I will post my results soon.
I was able to find this video hope this works
http://goo.gl/Yw4f3Personally, and I know Eric feels the same way, I would stay away from rebuilding calipers. A quality reman’d unit will save you time and headache down the road.
I see, reman calipers around $40 each. I need to research to see if any work was done on these calipers prior.
They’re right I don’t recommend rebuilding calipers especially if you haven’t done it before, it’s actually cheaper to purchase remans if you consider the time it would take to rebuild.
What boots are you referring to?
This is the boot or piston cover on break calipers. This is not my actual calipers only a photo I found online.
[url=http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n300/bearing01/Rear_End_217.jpg:1iicqb3n]
I’d recommend you just take a little silicone paste and cover the hole in the boot if you have one OR replace the caliper. That boot would come in a rebuild kit but it seems like a waste for just one part. That’s just the dust boot which is meant to keep contaminants from getting to the inner caliper seal so it’s not critical to the operation of the caliper.
Eric, silicone paste sound easy enough, I will inspect the dust boot once again. My Honda dealership recommended replacing the dust boot. I’m thinking they feel like the piston is in good shape.
It probably is OK you just don’t want to expose it to the elements for too long as it can rust up and damage the square cut seal which does all the work in the caliper. Just keeping contaminants out will extend it’s life dramatically, I normally see a situation like yours when the caliper piston was twisted in and there wasn’t any lubricant applied to the boot before that was done, this causes the dust boot to twist up and be come damaged, I’ve used the silicone paste to fill the holes in the past and have gotten years of life out of the caliper before it became an issue. It won’t hurt to just replace the boot however if you can get the part.
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