'07 Grand Caravan SXT, approx. 75K miles. The left rear caliper is leaking. Pulled the wheel off and can see that the piston boot is swelled up from the brake fluid behind it, which tells me that the piston seal is compromised (or could be that the piston surface is scored). Went to the local dealership and found out that the most common problem with these calipers is the piston seizing up, which generally requires replacement of the entire caliper. Can I get away with just replacing the piston seal and boot? Are these phenolic pistons prone to scoring, which would require replacement of all 3 parts? What do you recommend as the proper fix? Thank you for your time and consideration. Rob

 

can't remember the last time I rebuilt a caliper. Not really cost effective anymore in the shop.

 

Thanks for all of the great advice. Purchased a caliper rebuild kit (boot and seal) from the local dealership for $6.10 plus tax. This would have been the most economical fix had I not encountered another issue. Popped the piston out of the caliper only to find that the piston had a crack in it about 1/3 of the way around. The caliper rebuild kit that includes a piston is $53.xx plus tax. Picked up a Duralast rebuilt caliper with lifetime warranty from AutoZone for $40 plus tax and core charge. Thanks again.

 

Last person to do the brakes probably pushed the piston back in without a pad in there. Pretty easy to crack those pistons