Sachs

About Sachs

Sachs traces its origins to Fichtel & Sachs, founded in Schweinfurt, Germany in 1895. The company became the dominant European supplier of clutches and shock absorbers through the 20th century, and is now part of ZF Friedrichshafen — one of the world's largest automotive drivetrain and chassis suppliers. The Sachs name is used on aftermarket parts that match OE specifications for many European vehicles.

What they're known for

Clutches — Sachs is the OE supplier to many European manufacturers, particularly VW Group, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo and Opel/Vauxhall. The dual-mass flywheel (DMF) technology was largely developed at Sachs in the 1980s, and most modern European diesel cars use a Sachs or LuK DMF from the factory. The Sachs clutch kit comes with matched cover, driven plate and release bearing engineered to work together.

Shock absorbers — Sachs (and the related ZF brand Boge) supplies OE shocks to many of the same vehicles. The standard road shock is tuned to the OE damping curve; for vehicles that came from the factory with a Sachs shock, replacing with a Sachs shock means the new part feels like the original.

Sport ranges — Sachs Performance kits offer stiffer damping for performance applications, and the Sachs Race Engineering range covers motorsport use including the Nürburgring 24h field.

When to choose Sachs

For clutch replacement on European vehicles where Sachs was the OE supplier — confirm via the factory part-number cross-reference, but for most VW Group, BMW, Mercedes and Volvo applications, Sachs is the OE-equivalent choice. Dual-mass flywheels in particular benefit from staying with the OE supplier (Sachs or LuK) rather than going to a budget alternative.

For shock absorbers on the same range of vehicles, Sachs is also OE-equivalent. For non-European vehicles, KYB or Bilstein may be the OE supplier instead — check the application.

Browse Sachs parts mapped to your vehicle by entering your registration above.

Visit the official ZF Aftermarket page for the Sachs catalogue.