[sd_boxster]

My understanding of how the system works is consistent with your write-up. Like the damnable Christmas lights, once you lose one "bulb", the whole strand goes dark.

I zip tied my sensors back out of the way when I did my first brake service, so they're still "good". However, my understanding is that you can clip the sensors anywhere after the connector and strip, twist, and solder the the two wires to close the loop. Disconnecting the sensors leaves the loop open, which necessitates the zip-tie solution a lot of folks use.

I also read that the brake wear sensor is not routed to the DME - just to the light on the instrument cluster - so there is no stored fault that has to clear. Once you take care of the open circuit, the light should go off.