I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on how do the brake wear sensors in my 997.1 Boxster S work? And what happens if you remove them / don't connect them?

ps. Reason I ask is because I wanted to put in Hawk pads instead and they did not come with wear sensors.

Thanks.

 

you will get a warning light on the dash if you install pads without the sensor. i believe the sensor is build into the pad and connects to the wiring harness.

 

The Hawk pads include slots for factory pad wear sensors to fit into. The sensor is essentially a wire that goes into and out of the brake pad. When the pad wears down to a certain point, the rotor cuts through the wire. The brake pad warning is illuminated when continuity is lost at the sensor wire. If you remove the sensors, you will get a brake pad warning light. What Hawk pads were you looking at ? We have a full selection of Hawk pads and different sensors that will work great for your Boxster S. Click Here to view our selection.

 

The Hawk pads include slots for factory pad wear sensors to fit into. The sensor is essentially a wire that goes into and out of the brake pad. When the pad wears down to a certain point, the rotor cuts through the wire. The brake pad warning is illuminated when continuity is lost at the sensor wire. If you remove the sensors, you will get a brake pad warning light. What Hawk pads were you looking at?

Thanks for the info guys. I was afraid that the warning light will be on permanently without the wear sensors.

I did purchase new wear sensors from my local Porsche dealer ... which are exactly the same as the ones connected to my correct / OEM pads. Though, the Hawk pads I bought do not have any 'sockets' to connect them to :-( The pads I bought from Hawks Pads Direct were the HP Plus. code HB291N.642 and HB290N.583.

I can't figure out how to make them work on my car.

 

The HB291N.642 pages are the wrong pads. They're for a 1998 to 2005 911. The other part number looks to be rear pads and for all sorts of Boxster/Cayman and 911 models.

 

BTW, if you're disciplined, you can just run the car without sensors connected to the pads all the time. You can carefully remove the sensor from the factory pad, then either: a) cut the sensor (small metal piece tip end) off and splice the sensor wires together to bridge the circuit, or b) zip tie the wire and sensor (uncut) to the ABS sensor wire. Make sure you use a few zip ties so the brake sensor wire doesn't work itself loose during high speed travel.

By doing that, you can now use pads without worrying about sensor error. That also means you have to keep an eye on pad wear... since the computer won't tell you when pads are almost done. HTH.

 

The HB291N.642 pages are the wrong pads. They're for a 1998 to 2005 911.

My mistake. The pads I've got are HB550N.634. Thought this is what Hawks direct advised when I questioned whether they're for my car - "the HB550N are just a newer version of pads to fit your car. They are interchangeable with the HB291N. The 291's are being phased out and replaced with the 550's."

"The pads below are the HP Plus for your 2008 Porsche Boxster S, with cast iron brakes.

Hawk Performance HB291N.642 Brake Pads
Hawk Performance HB290N.583 Brake Pads"

Do you think the above advice was not correct?

 

My 08 Boxster isn't the S but last week the sensors registered that I needed new pads so I got some ordered quickly and put them on. I thought I would need to replace the sensors but they weren't damaged and I reinserted them in the new pads. The warning light didn't reappear so I'm assuming I got them changed soon enough not to wear through the wire.

The rear pads still had 1/4" so I didn't replace them but I did remove them and look them over. I plan to order those and have them on hand so when they get thin I can replace just the pads and maybe not have to replace the sensors also.

 

The Hawk pads include slots for factory pad wear sensors to fit into.

I've been doing some research and found some nice instruction guides with pictures for replacing the pads and sensors. So I think I have a slightly better understanding of what is what and where it goes.

So for one, I think you're right - the Hawk pads I have do seem to have the slots for wear sensors. Though, the factory wear sensors do not fit into these slots. It seems the slots are too small. Or the thickness of the backing plate is too wide for the sensor. See pics below (front pad).

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, any suggestions (besides disabling the sensors)? I would love to make them work with the sensors considering they seem to have some sort of slot for the sensors.

 

I can't say with any confidence one way or the other. All you can do is compare the new pads to the old ones and see if they are identical save of course the expected differences in pad material thickness.

Then try to install the new pads. If they install without a hitch, feel as secure in the pad "nest" as the old pads, and the clip/etc. fit along with the wear sensor then I'd say the advice you go was correct.

 

why not get a set of pads from Pagid or Textar? They are OEM and will fit perfectly. Look on ebay for a good deal. I think brakewarehouse is a good source too.

 

In a pinch you can zip tie the sensor wires out out of the way. Put a small plastic bag over the sensor end and use two zip ties. I did this once but never again. I got tired of explaining to the tech/service manager why whenever I had the car in for service.

Next pad change I went back to using the sensors. I like them and the fact I do not have to worry about the brakes wearing out without any forewarning. However, whenever I have the car in for service the techs always inspect the brakes and report on pad thickness so there's always that back up...

 

Those really look like GT2 front brake pads. Like the one shown below.


The Boxster S should look like this.

 

If they install without a hitch, feel as secure in the pad "nest" as the old pads, and the clip/etc. fit along with the wear sensor...

Here's another shot of just the (front) Hawk pads. They do seem to fit in the caliper / housing. But the wear sensor does not fit.



Thanks for the pics ECS Tuning - Porsche. The Boxster S pads you posted have a reference HB664 7266-2. The one I got are HB550 7266-2C ... so obviously they're not the same pads ... but those are HP Plus.

Also I just heard back from Hawkpadsdirect and they did confirm that the pads I have are the correct pads for 2008 Boxster S. Though, also they said that the HP Plus pads do not have a location for the wear sensor ... which is what I thought that slot next to the pin hole was for.

Seems like to fit these I have to do what's been suggested before - and cut/loop the wear sensors.

 

No need to cut the wear sensors. Just leave the sensor lead plugged in -- it protects the very critical connector at the wiring harness -- and tie the things up out of the way. I can't recall what I zip tied the sensor wire to but you want to be sure you zip tie it to something that doesn't move relative to the sensor wire connector.