Front Calipers - Rebuild or replace?

[APKhaos]

Both front calipers have badly deteriorated boots, and one has sticking pistons on one side. Given they are originals with 240K miles, they are due for some attention.

Question is what shape the pistons and bores are in at this age. My first instinct is to fit new seals and boots, but I'm wondering how likely it is that the pistons and bores are corroded and in need of new pistons and bore honing.

Anyone rebuilt high miles calipers care to comment on what shape the pistons and bores were in?
Are the rebuilt calipers from Toyota reliable?

 

[spressomon]

I'd say, without pulling them apart and inspecting the bore, if you've been prudent on flushing brake fluid annually then there's a good chance they're still fine...rebuild them.

Generally I'm a stickler for OEM Toyota but my rear calipers were toast and I ended up buying supposed new Napa units with lifetime guarantee (7-years ago they cost me $80 each...no idea what they're selling today) at a fraction of the rebuilt unit's price from Toyota and have had zero issues. Ditto for Toyota's POS reman starters...

 

[neoworm]

You can buy new pistons and seals from Toyota for Peanuts. Caliper hones are pretty cheap. If you have time I would try a rebuild first.

 

[APKhaos]

The calipers have to be split in order to hone the cylinders. My experience with Porsche [Brembo] calipers is that its bloody near impossible to prevent them from leaking once they've been split.

 

[ENGINE er]

I have repeated success using high grit sand paper to "hone" the bore. Never done it to really bad ones but the high grit stuff with some water was enough to knock the crud off to where i could see the original hone marks.

sometimes the original pistons went back in with new seals and sometimes i used new pistons but i have never had a failure due to it. Used this method on Open wheel cars/AP racing brakes/ferrari ect. But in each case the vehicles were very well taken care of.

 

[mgilvan]

If you are pretty handy with repair, just repair them and reuse them nothing better than recondish parts when you do it yourself , if you’re illiterate in car repair like me , just buy new ones , give your hundy a xmass gift

 

[APKhaos]

I've rebuilt more calipers than I can count, but few with 240K of hard travelling and salted roads.
Have ordered seals and pistons for one, so we'll see how that goes. I'm half expecting to see a lot of corrosion on the pistons and bores. Its worth a shot though