Brake pad Wear Sensor! Help Pls
 

I've been working on the boxster the last few weeks doing several things to the car.
I painted the calipers and now it is time to put the new brake pads in.

The Brake pad wear sensor light came on so I was wondering how can I get rid of the light on my dash?
I would rather not use any brake pad wear sensors, is that possible?
If its possible, what do I do with all the old brake pad sensors that I no longer need? Do I cut the wires, zip tie it out of the way, or remove the whole assembly?

Hoping to get the boxster back on the road as soon as possible.

Thank you!!

From what I understand it is not at all uncommon for those that track their cars to pull the sensor out of the pad and zip tie it to the frame. Apparently they tend to melt under the heat of track braking.

I replaced mine last month and it appears the business end of the sensor is simply an insulated wire loop. As the pad wears away the wire is exposed and friction from the rotor wears off the insulation causing metal to metal contact with the rotor. Soooooooo, I would think if you eliminate the contact, you eliminate the dash light.

Not sure if you could simply unplug the whole sensor without getting a CEL or some type of other light.

My 2 cents

I think that what triggers the brake wear light is the open circuit resulting from the sensor having worn through. I don't think that it is from the sensor closing a circuit via contact with the rotor.

If you want to get rid of the light your need to connect a new sensor. Whether you install the sensor in the pad or wire it up out of the way is up to you.

You can get by without wear sensors just fine. I melted one at my first track event. I cut it off, stripped the ends of the wires, and taped the end with electrical tape - no brake wear light, no problems at all.

You just have to remember now, to inspect your brake pads frequently. Since I swap street pads and track pads 3-4 times per summer (before each track event), that's certainly often enough to know when they're getting low.

Cheers,
Jason

Thanks for setting me straight, Mark. That makes sense because I was wondering what would happen if you just ignored the light and kept driving until the wire wore all the way through.