Front brake pad wear sensor

jeffgraham

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2003
Location
Delaware, OH
TDI
Jetta, 2001, galactic blue
I have a buddy who has the brake warning light coming on. The pads/rotors look fine, but I noticed an extra wire going down to the front driver's side brake. Is this the sensor wire going down to the pad? I didn't want to go farther till I knew what I was doing. Could someone point me to a guide on this? My searches yielded nothing on this topic.

If his pads are missing the sensor, can I just short the wire?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Also, anyone in central ohio know of a good place to get replacement micheline tires. Went to sams club and they want $125 ea.
My corvette tires weren't much more.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
You can turn the brake sensor off with a VAG COM. It might be interesting to look at the fault codes first and find out what's causing the light to come on but you've probably found the source. I was also informed that when it is time for new front brakes you can buy ones for an '99.5 to '01 A4 and they will cost about half as much as they're missing the sensor. Not a lot of use anyway since the rears wear out first!

Regarding Michelins, $125 isn't a bad price. They're very expensive, and not really worth it IMHO. If you're replacing all four tires look at Kumhos. Great tires, and very inexpensive.
 

jeffgraham

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2003
Location
Delaware, OH
TDI
Jetta, 2001, galactic blue
His jetta is a 2000. You mentioned he could buy a 99.5-'01 cheaper because they are missing the sensor, but both his 00 and my 01 have the indicator light and sensor....
 

Duck0987

Well-known member
Joined
May 26, 2004
Location
Marietta, OH
TDI
Jetta '03 Silver
I opt'ed for the Good Year Eagles GT-H from Sam's I believe, they have a similar tirerack rating to the OE Michelin tires. And I have put 20k on them so far and they are still looking good.
 

Geordi

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2002
Location
Somewhere between Heaven and Hell. But it is reall
TDI
14 JSW DSG, 03 Wagon 01M, 400k and IPT performance auto!
Use a Vag-Com to disable the sensor, that kills that stupid light. On my Jetta, I was grinding the right-front rotor to bits while the left side was fine... So no light. WOuld be better if they had put that sensor on ALL the wheels, not just the driver's. On my car tho, the rears have worn at the same rate as the front, not faster. Maybe somthing different about my car? I did have a recall performed on the rear brakes, but I don't know what they changed.

--Jim
 

Herm TDI

Vendor
Joined
Nov 21, 2001
Location
Richmond, Maine...The far side of Witsend
TDI
2002 Golf GLS Malone Stage 3, P+520 nozzles, 11MM Inj pump, Sachs VR6 clutch, Stelth Race Pipe, Immo Deleat, EGR Deleat
The best way to address this sensor is to simply turn it off. This is done with Vag-Com. Here is the "step-by-step":

Using Vag-Com:
Select: INSTRUMENTS
Select: RECODE
NOTE: At this screen you'll see the instrument configuration setting. You will be making a change to the first (left two #) two digits of the software coding.
For examble the software coding is set to 07XXX.
To turn off the brake-pad wear sensor reduce the first 2 digits by one (1).
Change the software coding to 06xxx.
Save the change and your done.
This will turn off the brake-pad wear sensor
 

Frank M

BANNED
Joined
Apr 7, 2000
Location
NH
TDI
NB
Use a Vag-Com to disable the sensor, that kills that stupid light.
the original wires to the pad can cut and spliced together.
in the future if replacing the pads with the ones with the sensor, just unplug the spliced wires and plug the pad wires in.
On my car tho, the rears have worn at the same rate as the front, not faster. Maybe somthing different about my car?
perhaps you do not use your emergency brake as often as others. that causes the pads to not retract as much and they wear out quicker.
 

Geordi

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2002
Location
Somewhere between Heaven and Hell. But it is reall
TDI
14 JSW DSG, 03 Wagon 01M, 400k and IPT performance auto!
Oh, you mean the drifting handle?
Yea, in Florida, we don't need to use it for parking... Since we don't have hills.

I guess that does make a difference, the spring doesn't get compressed so the pads stay retracted. If I did use the E-brake a lot, I think I would replace that spring so the pads lasted longer.

--Jim
 
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