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When opening the bleed valve prior to squeezing the caliper piston back in, I have a hose on the bleeder port to direct the fluid to the catch jar. I'd never open a bleeder port without a hose on it - besides the risk of brake fluid getting onto new brake pads (which will contaminate them and ruin them) it's too easy to have a splash of brake fluid land on a painted surface. Bye-bye paint.
As for replacing the caliper or not at each pad change... look at how the old pads wore. If they wore evenly - left pad compared to right pad AND even with the pads on the opposite side of the car - then the caliper and slide bolts are fairly healthy. I clean and re-lube the slide bolts and inspect the rubber bellows on the caliper: any splits/tears lets road grime and water into the piston area which will A) grind at the seal ring between piston and caliper and B) promote caliper-jamming rust. If I think the bellows looks at all worn (signs of cracking even if there are none that have become holes), or if the piston shows sign of grit/rust (meaning crap got in there...) then the caliper gets a rebuild kit and complete cleaning. If the caliper bore shows signs of internal rust damage I'll replace it. Rust on the piston usually wipes right off with light emery paper plus brake cleaner - at least on the few vehicles I've actually had to clean - since the pistons have a plated surface coating to give them a smooth and hard low-wearing surface (clearly I've never seen one of those F-150 calipers!). Obviously, if I have to do anything to the caliper or piston that means they have to be removed from the vehicle and a full brake bleeding job is coming. Though I usually bleed the system anyway after any pad/shoe change to get clean/fresh fluid in there as preventative maintenance. Brake fluid is cheap.
Now, I live in SoCal so winter ice/snow and road salts are not something my cars have to deal with. Constant exposure to crud/contaminates may be too big of a challenge for the rubber bellows seals leading to caliper problems - especially in super-cold conditions where the rubber parts may stiffen. Either that or the brake fluid gets contaminated rapidly promoting caliper rust. I wonder if more frequent fluid changes would help folks get more than a year or two out of a caliper?
How often do folks pull the wheels off to inspect the pad thickness & caliper condition? That's something I do fairly routinely as well - to spot pads that are not wearing evenly indicating a developing caliper issue before it does collateral damage.
mpc
As for replacing the caliper or not at each pad change... look at how the old pads wore. If they wore evenly - left pad compared to right pad AND even with the pads on the opposite side of the car - then the caliper and slide bolts are fairly healthy. I clean and re-lube the slide bolts and inspect the rubber bellows on the caliper: any splits/tears lets road grime and water into the piston area which will A) grind at the seal ring between piston and caliper and B) promote caliper-jamming rust. If I think the bellows looks at all worn (signs of cracking even if there are none that have become holes), or if the piston shows sign of grit/rust (meaning crap got in there...) then the caliper gets a rebuild kit and complete cleaning. If the caliper bore shows signs of internal rust damage I'll replace it. Rust on the piston usually wipes right off with light emery paper plus brake cleaner - at least on the few vehicles I've actually had to clean - since the pistons have a plated surface coating to give them a smooth and hard low-wearing surface (clearly I've never seen one of those F-150 calipers!). Obviously, if I have to do anything to the caliper or piston that means they have to be removed from the vehicle and a full brake bleeding job is coming. Though I usually bleed the system anyway after any pad/shoe change to get clean/fresh fluid in there as preventative maintenance. Brake fluid is cheap.
Now, I live in SoCal so winter ice/snow and road salts are not something my cars have to deal with. Constant exposure to crud/contaminates may be too big of a challenge for the rubber bellows seals leading to caliper problems - especially in super-cold conditions where the rubber parts may stiffen. Either that or the brake fluid gets contaminated rapidly promoting caliper rust. I wonder if more frequent fluid changes would help folks get more than a year or two out of a caliper?
How often do folks pull the wheels off to inspect the pad thickness & caliper condition? That's something I do fairly routinely as well - to spot pads that are not wearing evenly indicating a developing caliper issue before it does collateral damage.
mpc
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