Review of SenSen Shocks and Struts/ Video Installation for 99 Z3

[mcintyr]

Hey guys,

Around a year ago i bought SenSen Shocks and Struts, i want to share how happy i am with new quality of ride.

It is a lit bit stiff, but it'a nice stiff.

I had just a squeaking sound, like rubber, took it apart and one of the shocks were completely dead. So i was looking for replaces, read a numerous reviews, decide to give a chance to SenSen (My wife works for company) full set (just to change everything to make sure) on apxautoparts.com

and OMG, compare price/quality, those struts are AMAZING.

Not going to buy anything else if i will need to. One year using it, not a minute of regret.

Plus a saved huge on mechanic, APX has video installation on youtube

That video was recorder on my car, so i can tell you for sure that it is correct and it is working great!

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-pyqyd1h20

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l3rfGbxvlM

 

[zedonist]

They look good, SenSen are an American company supplying to the Automotive OEM's and have ISO TS 16949, so should be good quality, as your post suggests, and at a great price i might add, be good to test them against the Bilstein B8's.

Thanks for sharing

 

[GazHyde]

I have contacted the poster of this message and asked him to update his post with a bit more information (which he has agreed to do). Once this has been done the external link will be added back in again - will make sense when you read the update

 

[vintage42]

... Around a year ago i bought SenSen Shocks and Struts, i want to share how happy i am with new quality of ride.... It is a lit bit stiff, but it'a nice stiff... My wife works for company... apxautoparts.com... APX has video installation on youtube. That video was recorder on my car, so i can tell you for sure that it is correct and it is working great!

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-pyqyd1h20

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l3rfGbxvlM

So your wife works for APX and they made the videos of installing Sensen struts and shocks on your Z3. In the video of the shock installation, it appears that the spacer on the bottom bolt is installed on the wrong (inboard) side of the shock. I am researching this. In the video of the strut installation, the old struts lack bumpers and dust covers, and the new struts are installed without them.

In December 2012 I ordered a set of Sensens from APX for my Z3, costing only $154 with free shipping. It is even lower now:
http://apxautoparts.com/apx/sensenr-1970-shocks-struts-full-set-4-pieces.html

But the left strut would not fit on the steering knuckle because the two lower mounts welded on the strut were not aligned with each other. I returned the struts for full refund and bought KYBs. I took photos of the misaligned strut mounts, and APX used the information to make the factory correct the problem. APX offered me another set of corrected Sensen struts, but it was months after I had installed the KYBs so I could not use them.

The Sensen shocks installed OK, and were stiff as noted. After 5,000 miles the right Sensen shock developed a noise, so I replaced the shocks with KYBs.

The Sensen parts look high quality, and use high quality Japanese seals. But they had an inexcusable quality control problem with the left Z3 struts. This was beyond vendor APX's control. They did the best they could for me, but the run of bad Z3 struts must have hurt their business. The Sensen struts and shocks are sold as OE-type, with Sachs and KYB and Monroe part numbers on the boxes. But forum comments indicate that Sensens are stiffer than OEM, and my Sensen shocks were stiffer than the KYBs I have now.

The price of Sensens is unbeatable, less than 1/4 the cost of Bilstein HDs, whose ride is also called stiff.

... SenSen are an American company...

Sensen are a Chinese company, Zhejiang Sensen Auto Parts Co., Ltd, that supplies OEM manufacturers world-wide.

As a leading professional manufacturer and exporter in China... SENSEN is a leader in the technical evolution of auto parts... products export to Europe, America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia etc.
http://www.sensenshocks.com/en/index.jsp?id0=z0hnv18a6j&id1=z0hnv4sy5t

 

[zedonist]

Sensen are a Chinese company, Zhejiang Sensen Auto Parts Co., Ltd, that supplies OEM manufacturers world-wide.

You may well be right, i only found the NA website, which reads as though they manufacture them in the USA and export to China, that said most items for cars are made in china and other deep sea (as the OEM like to call it) areas of the world, and are generally made in far better conditions than the UK, USA or Europe, for example we were set a target of 40% of items to be sourced outside the UK and in deep sea regions by a famous posh uk OEM and that was 15 years ago, that % will be higher now.

Having personally reviewed said suppliers i have no concerns dealing or using their parts, have seen worse and experienced worse issues with EU and USA suppliers, it all comes down to due diligence in selection of suppliers, as i am sure China will have its fair share of poor suppliers also, but the ISO TS 16949 certification is not a badge of honour like ISO 9001, so it gives them a fair bit of credit as it is regulated by the SMMT.

It is a shame you have had a bad experience, but as you say you helped them to improve their product so some good came of it, and the price is certainly attractive to warrant a go........that said I have nothing but good experience with Bilsteins over numerous cars so will only use them as per my T5 currently will be fitted with them shortly.

 

[vintage42]

You may well be right, i only found the NA website, which reads as though they manufacture them in the USA and export to China...

Sensen's website says they are in China:
http://www.sensenshocks.com/en/index.jsp?id0=z0hnv18e35&id1=z0hnv4vea5

This site says Sensen has 4 distribution centers in the United States:
http://www.sensen-na.com/?page_id=21

For some reason, Sensen's North American marketers and distributors are not saying on their site that Sensen is Chinese company. On the contrary, it seems they want people to think Sensen is an American manufacturing company. And they are succeeding.

But only in China can a set of four struts and shocks be made, and then shipped to the US, and sold with profit for $122:
http://apxautoparts.com/apx/sensenr-1970-shocks-struts-full-set-4-pieces.html

 

[BlackBMWs]

Interesting. The Z I picked up recently had Sen Sen put in all round. Overall the ride seems very soft, but I run coilovers on my compacts so perhaps apples to apples, they are OK. I have strut bars and sways going in when I get a moment, and I look for that to help improve the overall handling and firmness.

Otherwise, I was thinking about going either CATuned(In-town) or BC for coilovers if it feels too soft once I start driving it around a bit more.

 

[BlackBMWs]

So, after driving around on the Sen Sen as a daily driver, after replacing both blown RSMs, I have been pleased with the ride and firmness. Too soft for the track, but seems great for tooling around town. I also installed the Bertrini rear strut brace and overall, I am enjoying he package.