I purchased some ceremic brakes today for my '97 civic, I noticed when I was installing them it was very tight, as in I had to get a rubber mallet to pound the caliper into place. When I went for a test drive I knew they were dragging, and when I hit the brakes the car darted to the left. I stoped for about 5 minutes and let them cool off, and then drove home. I immideatly took everything apart and noticed that the rubber seal that goes around the circle thing on the caliper was broken on the passenger side caliper, this was due to the excessive heat and it being so tight I presume. Do I need to get new calipers now? Or will the brakes work ok even if this seal is broken? The car has 120k on it, bone stock, and I dont really care about peformance or anything. Thanks in advance.

 

I put the old pads back on, and everything was fine. Rotors are newer, no vibration when I slam on the brakes at low or high speeds. What exactly does the seal around the circle that pushes the pad do?