Did my rear discs and pads last weekend and noticed one of the dust skirts was a bit chewed up as it had been twisted by a previous owner. Second one was fine but had come out from the piston. Is this a caliper strip down job or can these be replaced while on the car? The calipers are working fine with no sticking.

Caliper strip down I'm afraid.

You'll have to remove the piston in order to remove / install the old / new dust seals because of the way it mates with the caliper.

Is the seal torn in any way though? I'd say if it looks like it's 'sealing' and is nicely seated around the end of the piston, I'd just leave it alone

Bugger! The one that's twisted has a small rip toward the pad side but is seated fine. The other looks really good with no damage and does seat well despite being out of the piston side. Both are working fine and there's no loss of fluid and the new discs are all bedding in well.

There won't be any fluid loss because that is the job of the main seal sat inside the caliper.

 

Only problem with a split dust seal though is that is does make the caliper quite prone to getting dirt between the piston and main seal, which in turn could lead to fluid loss/ brake failure in the future due to seal damage. I would definitely say it's something to put on the 'to do' list.

Yep it's there cheers for the input