we heard a grinding noise coming from the front right, so we parked it and i pulled off that wheel. Turns out the singer on the inside pad had broken off and consequently i wore the pad all the way down to the rotor. It looks like all the metal particles sand blasted the rubber boot around the lower cylinder. Its still there in most places but its torn open at the base. Am i going to need to replace this?

Also, while we were trying to replace the pads (this is the only car i've ever worked on with anitlocks. My dad was helping me, we just tried to follow the same procedure that he does for his silverado) we squeezed the lower piston in with a c-clamp. this pushed the upper piston out. we stopped and tried but couldn't push the upper piston back in (we thought it should push the lower on out, but it didn't). the cap is off of the bleed valve, but nothing cam out. we tried to unscrew the bolt at the base but it didn't move, and i'm not in the mood to break it. PLEASE HELP

Summary:
replace the boot?
why can't we bleed the brakes?
Did we mess up something with the pistons?

 

The dust cover is needed long term. It will cause the calipur to fail in time if it is not there. You need to push back both pistons at the same time. The only reason your top piston would not go back in is it is binding, This is most likely the reason for the inner pad wearing out.
You need to replace your calipur. Might as well do rotors/pads/calipurs Flush the brake fluid you shoudl be good for another 10 years