MajorCommonBrakes

Toyota Starlet: Perished caliper slider boots — pins seize and the brakes quietly go soft on one side

Perished caliper slider boots — pins seize and the brakes quietly go soft on one side is a common brakes fault on the Toyota Starlet on the 1989–1999 cars, and we rate it major. Putting it right costs $180 to $700 at New Zealand independent workshop rates. Below is what goes wrong, the symptoms to notice on a test drive, where to look, and what to ask the seller before you hand over any money. It is one of 6 documented faults on the Toyota Starlet.

Vehicle: Toyota Starlet
Years: 1989–1999
Fuel: petrol
System: Brakes

This page covers the Toyota Starlet as a model. Some faults only affect particular engines or build years — enter a plate below to narrow the list to one car.

All Toyota Starlet faults6 documented faults on this model

What you are looking at

No photograph available

We do not hold a verified photograph of the Brake disc and pads yet. We would rather show none than show a picture of a different part.

What goes wrong

The front brakes on these are perfectly good when looked after, but the rubber boots covering the caliper slide pins perish with age. Once a boot splits, water and grit get in, the pin seizes, and the caliper can no longer float properly — so only part of the pad does any work and braking on that corner weakens. Because it comes on gradually and only affects one side, drivers adapt to it without noticing, and it usually turns up as a pull under braking or as a WoF failure. It also chews through one pad while leaving the other barely worn, so the wear pattern gives it away.

What you would notice

Car pulls to one side when you brake
One front wheel noticeably hotter than the other after a drive
A smell of hot brake after ordinary driving
Braking feels weaker than it should for a car this light
Split or missing rubber boots visible at the caliper

How to check it

Where to look. Front brake calipers, slide pins and their rubber boots

Look through the front wheel spokes with a torch at the caliper and find the small rubber boots covering the slide pins — they should be intact and supple, not split, hard or missing. On the test drive, brake firmly from a moderate speed on a straight, flat road with your hands relaxed and see whether the car pulls to one side. When you get back, hold your hand near each front wheel (near, not on) and feel whether one is markedly hotter than the other, which points to a caliper that is not releasing. Have a look at the pad thickness on each side through the wheel if you can see it, since one worn and one near-new pad is this fault's signature. Ask when the front brakes were last serviced rather than just when the pads were last changed, because pads get replaced without anyone touching the slides.

Parts involved: Brake disc and pads.

What it costs to put right

$180 to $700 at New Zealand independent workshop rates. That is for this job on its own, not for the car.

An estimate, in NZD, for the repair as normally carried out. What a specific car costs depends on which part has failed and what it damaged on the way — treat this as the floor for a negotiation, not a quote.

Ask the seller

“When were the front brakes last serviced, and were the caliper slides cleaned?”
“Does it pull under braking?”
“Has it ever failed a WoF on brakes?”

Now check the Toyota Starlet you are actually looking at

Everything above is true of the model, and it is free. What it does not tell you is whether THIS car has been looked after: its odometer history and whether the reading has ever gone backwards, whether there is still money owing on it, whether it has been reported stolen, how many owners it has had and what it is really worth today. That comes from the official records for that plate. Enter the plate for the free details, or get the full history and a market valuation from $13.49.

Not sure what you would be paying for? See what a full KickTyres check includes.

Where this comes from

The failure described above is documented in the sources below. The inspection instructions and the cost estimate are KickTyres’ own interpretation of them.

BreakerYard — Toyota Starlet common problems and solutions
Toyota Owners Club — EP82 Starlet ownership thread
CarsGuide — Toyota Starlet problems and reliability issues

Toyota Starlet buyer questions

Is perished caliper slider boots — pins seize and the brakes quietly go soft on one side serious on a Toyota Starlet?

We rate it major and common on the Toyota Starlet. The front brakes on these are perfectly good when looked after, but the rubber boots covering the caliper slide pins perish with age. Once a boot splits, water and grit get in, the pin seizes, and the caliper can no longer float properly — so only part of the pad does any work and braking on that corner weakens. Because it comes on gradually and only affects one side, drivers adapt to it without noticing, and it usually turns up as a pull under braking or as a WoF failure. It also chews through one pad while leaving the other barely worn, so the wear pattern gives it away.

How much does it cost to fix on a Toyota Starlet?

$180 to $700 at New Zealand independent workshop rates. That figure is for this job on its own. A car showing the symptoms on this page is usually worth either walking away from or negotiating down by at least the repair figure.

Which Toyota Starlet years are affected?

Our research records this fault on the 1989–1999 Toyota Starlet. Build dates move around, especially on imported cars, so treat the range as the years to look hardest at rather than a guarantee either way. The official records tell you the exact build and first registration date for the car in front of you.