We’re here to help, but we need more info - can you call him and ask whether it was a caliper piston boot, or if it was a caliper slider boot? Then let us know.
We tend to get a bit focused when folks come to us with brake problems, that can be a big safety issue.
Fair enough and thanks. That’s my concern as well - I work in health and safety, but sadly, I know very little about the workings of motor vehicles (especially when it comes to part names). But I spoke the mechanic and he said it’s not majorly concerning, but arrange to get it replaced during my next brake job. He just said that dirt may get into the piston, but it’s not an immediate priority. We’re also in lockdown right now so we’re not moving much these days.
Your next brake job is likely to be several years from now, and I don’t think that this repair is something that can be safely deferred for an extended period of time.
I don’t know about anyone else, but when I perform a brake job, I disassemble and inspect the brakes to determine what needs replacing.
If I saw torn slide pin boots, I’d order replacements along with the other components.
They can be purchased you know?
But if it’s a caliper piston boot, that requires disassembling the caliper or replacing the caliper.
Which then means having to bleed the ABS system.
So, maybe the retired mechanic doesn’t have the equipment to perform that part of the brake job.
Tester
I drive about 40,000 km/yr, so it’s definitely much more frequent for me.
I think @Tester had it right to begin with. This seems to be the caliper boot in the photo up top. If the boot is sold separately, getting it replaced makes sense. Whether silicone or another type of rubber, getting another makes sense to keep the caliper clean just so long as it is at least of the same quality as the original Mazda equipment. Your car can’t be more than 5 years old, and that is early to replace the entire caliper. It seems to me your mechanic is trying to save you a little money without causing harm to the car, and that’s a good thing.
The biggest problem I’ve seen over the years with calipers is not necessarily the entrance of dirt. It’s pitting in the caliper bore due to aged brake fluid which was never changed.
Did you ever get it replaced?
Probably just as easy to replace the caliper, but to rebuild the caliber is pretty easy to and if the follow is retired he is probably pretty reasonable as far as his pricing and probably has plenty of time to rebuild a caliber if he could do it cheaper.
Heck on my own car one time I forget what it was I could not get a rebuild kit or the rebuild kit was crazy or the price of a new caliber I’d remember was crazy on a Ford escort this was circa 2007.
I actually rebuilt the caliber using the old parts and it worked well for several years.
However now, the parts were in good shape and not torn I was able to just clean everything up and hone the cylinder and clean the Piston up but I actually even use the old parts at that time again I think I couldn’t get a rebuild kit or something I don’t remember 100% but again it worked well for several years. Anyways my point is if you’re retired mechanic has plenty of time and is willing to do it rebuilding the caliber would be just fine probably win-win for both of you.
Yes I agree in the post above I made there was actually some white buildup in there look like a little bit of corrosion of some sort but I was able to clean everything up and it was quite serviceable for several years.
It was a 94 Ford escort by the way.
As pointed out by everyone, we have a problem at the starting point with nomenclature. There are a few “boots” that could be observed during a brake job. A torn caliper piston boot should have been an add on to the brake job. If it wasn’t, either take care of it soon or leave it to your next brake service when you can expect to have the caliper rebuilt or replaced. A torn caliper pin boot shields a slide pin that the caliper slides on everytime the brakes are applied. It is not unusual for damage to these to go unnoticed. Eventually road grime will prevent the caliper from sliding on the pin and either the brake will become less effective or will not retract and continue to contact the brake rotor. Finally, he could have referred to the axle CV boot. With a torn axle boot road grime gets into the CV joint and will start causing a grinding noise especially when steering. If it hasn’t been too long these can be repaired in place with a two part boot. If it’s been long enough to allow grit to get into the joint, you can wait until symptoms arise but it will mean replacing the joint. These days it is cheaper just to replace the axle.
The exception to the busted CV boot and replace the axle instead is when it comes to VW. Their joints hold up amazingly well. We seldom ever had to replace a CV shaft on a VW; just clean it up, new boots and grease, and send it on its way without a worry.
With other makes it was quite risky to reinstall a used shaft with new boots because if it started clicking a few months later the tech gets the blame.
Can’t argue with your VW experience that I don’t have. The last time I had a torn boot on my Honda I found aftermarket axles on sale for $50. That pays for less than a half hour of labor where I’m from, so faster to replace the axle. That’s where I was coming from.