For some reason my better half drive an '08 Beetle and loves it to death. To me it is the unmanlyist ( I know this is not a word, but the best description I could come up with)car in the world, but it isn't bad for a little Car.
Anyway, one of the little strut bearings was frozen and causing the print to bind and ping when turning. Car has 141k on the odo and I figured there isn't any point in replacing just the bearing with those miles.
As I'm sitting there drooling over all of the great performance suspension options there are for these German cars I was actually considering buying one just to gain access lol
Unfortunately having a car that rides on rails is not her MO and she prefers a smooth,quiet,easy ride. Oh and I almost forgot. She is cheap when it comes to things that are low on her list of interests. That's when I came across these Sensen sruts and shocks. When it comes to my own vehicles I usually go for top of the line parts and stray from low cost Chinese options. I did some web searching though and fine these to actually be pretty highly recommended. So after showing her the options and prices, she naturally chose the Sensen parts.
I ordered a pair of front struts and rear shocks from a place called APX Auto parts on evay. Not a plug, but the shipped super fast and professionally. Total cost for all four corners was $112. Spent anot $25 for a set of front mounts,bearings, and nuts for pm Meyle. ( this of course was my original problem with the the vehicle. Total investment of $137. Not bad at all when compared to the competition.
First thoughts when I opened them is that they appear to be of good quality. Powder coated silver and come with a lifetime warranty. Acordint to their website they use a twin tube design like some of the others, as well ad NOK Japan seals which sounds nice.
No surprises during installation. Everything fit like it is supposed to. Comapring the old parts to the new I could see the heat stress marks on the shafts, and the definitely did not have the return rate when compressed compared to the new ones. 151k miles of driving on the moon (AKA Michigan roads) puts suspension parts through some torture.
I've put a decent amount of miles on these for the short time they have been installed and so far so good. Restored some of the tightness and rebound which had been missing with the worn Sachs OEM units.
Time will tell how they hold up, but many people have put thousands upon thousands of moles with these with good results.
I give these my stamp of approval. If they last another 100k I will be more than happy.
So if you are looking for some good dampers on a budget, I would definitely look into the Sensen offerings while doing your shopping.
Sensen Strut and shock replacment 08 Beetle
- Thread starter Johnny248
- Start date
- Status
Good to hear....this is the brand I want to get for my CR-V; Rockauto has them and the price is right.
Originally Posted By: Chris Meutsch
Good to hear....this is the brand I want to get for my CR-V; Rockauto has them and the price is right.
lol After reading this on my computer, I noticed all of the typo's and problems. Disclaimer: This was type on my Android phone which like to change words around and is not as easy to type long things as is a computer.
Thanks for sharing this! My car's needed new rear struts for a while. I just checked Rock Auto and I can get Sensen's for $28 each. Not bad!
Originally Posted By: Smcatub
Thanks for sharing this! My car's needed new rear struts for a while. I just checked Rock Auto and I can get Sensen's for $28 each. Not bad!
So, just wanted to add this. I was on the Sensen NA website, and they just happen to have the same address as what is on my invoice from APX Auto parts. So it looks like Sensen is selling their own products under their own APX Auto Parts name. Makes sense that they might offer better pricing.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2023
Yes the Beetle is pretty unmanly to say the least, but at least my daily driver is black on black and diesel. One thing a lot of people don't know about is the handling of the Beetle, it can really corner well and handles like a dream!
IIRC, they're Chinese copies of KYB Excel-G. The biggest knock I've seen about SenSen is the durability. Lots of compliments on how they perform at first, then lots of complaints about how quickly they fail. There was another thread here recently that discussed a number of failures within 10k-20k miles.
I installed SenSens on my xB last year. 10 months and 14k miles later, I have no complaints. They do what they're supposed to for now. While they see mostly suburban and highway driving, they did see a couple of hours on poorly maintained US Forest Service roads in the Carson National Forest recently. At about half the cost of KYB, I figured I'd give them a chance. If the rears fail early, I'll probably get new ones under warranty since they're a piece of cake to install. If the fronts fail early, I'll pay the extra for KYB.
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Yes the Beetle is pretty unmanly to say the least, but at least my daily driver is black on black and diesel. One thing a lot of people don't know about is the handling of the Beetle, it can really corner well and handles like a dream!
Originally Posted By: yesthatsteve
IIRC, they're Chinese copies of KYB Excel-G. The biggest knock I've seen about SenSen is the durability. Lots of compliments on how they perform at first, then lots of complaints about how quickly they fail. There was another thread here recently that discussed a number of failures within 10k-20k miles.
I installed SenSens on my xB last year. 10 months and 14k miles later, I have no complaints. They do what they're supposed to for now. While they see mostly suburban and highway driving, they did see a couple of hours on poorly maintained US Forest Service roads in the Carson National Forest recently. At about half the cost of KYB, I figured I'd give them a chance. If the rears fail early, I'll probably get new ones under warranty since they're a piece of cake to install. If the fronts fail early, I'll pay the extra for KYB.
- Status
