In prep for my bi-monthly track day I changed out my front brake pads and noticed that the dust seals on the front calipers are damaged. Both seals are damaged in about the same location across the top 90 degrees or so of the seal.

I assume this was because I let my last set of Porterfield R4S run a little long and melted the seal. This is based on my observation that the pistons were about 1/2 inch exposed and the pads were down to about 1/8 inch left. I also have some minor grooving on the front rotors.

Of course none of the local dealers stock the caliper rebuild kits and I have to wait a few days for H and A to get them out to me. I really don't understand why a dealer wouldn't stock something called a "rebuild kit," but that's a different story.

My question: is there any reason I could NOT do a track day with the front caliper dust seals damaged? This is assuming that I rebuild the calipers with the kits right after the track day.

 

Last year I burned the dust seals on my calipers too. The calipers should work fine as long as pieces of the burned rubber aren't causing the piston to hang up.

 

I noticed mine were burned up (both front and rear), replace them all, and at the end of the very next track day they were burned up again (again both front and rear). So I decided not to replace them until fluid starts to leak past the inner seals or some other problem developed. It has been almost a year with a dozen open track days (both wet and dry) plus street driving and still no leaking or other problems. The inner seals appear to be still OK. So I suggest just monitoring everything, check for leaks and rebuild say once a year or so.

 

I let my Carbotechs wear too far in the front and burned my seals as well. The car pulls to the right under heavy braking. I'm thinking my piston is gummy.

May need to have it rebuilt. Will try some mild street driving with the new pads to see if I can get things unstuck....

Anyone have opinions regarding the dust seals?

 

I haven't had those dust boots on my pistons for at least five years. No problems so far.

 

I think we melted our boots during Evo school and when the rubber cooled down it goobered things up. I didn't notice the pulling to the right until after we trailered the car home. Maybe I should melt them free again.

 

Very typical. I used to rebuild after every track day..

Brake ducts don't help.

Shims don't help.

The design is just bad for trapping heat.