Last night while changing the rear brake pads on my 02 Cooper, the rubber boot that covers the piston ripped. Today, I took the car into the shop for something else and they are telling me that the entire caliper (or as the service advisor said, "caliber") needs to be replaced.

Has anyone had this happen and what did you do about it? Also, is it crazy to drive with a ripped piston boot?

 

No replacement boot?? That would suck.
It's not crazy, but best to drive as little as possible lest the cylinder get contaminated and the bore scratched.

Is it number 12 here?

 

I was just looking at that Eric, i'm not sure that's the piston boot, as the pic shows it on the back(?) of the caliper which is kinda weird.

 

^ i think you are right. relative to the car, #12 is on the inside, the boot would be on the outside. i'm afraid the boot is part of #1 which would be the caliper. ouch.

this sucks especially because I just replaced my brake fluid, too.

EDIT: ok, duh, i followed the link and it looks like that is the part. i called the parts department and they told me it is available separate which (common sense) tells me that it could be simply replaced. Hopefully they don't have to take the caliper apart or off and they can save my brake fluid.

 

If it's like other caliper dust boots, it's not a major procedure. It should just slip into a groove in the caliper. No need to dismantle or bleed.

 

UPDATE: The boot was availble to replace on it's own.

 

if just the boot is torn and the piston seals are good then they should be able to replace the boot with out removing the piston from the caliper. its not very tough to change the boot and you can do it without disconnecting the caliper.

sometimes the piston boot comes with a set of piston seals, if thats the case they will probably want to change them also. if theres no gunk around or in the piston bore or its not leaking around the piston, then yu might be able to get away with not changin them.

 

^ and that's what happened. just the boot was replaced. no other work was necessary.