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I've got my hands on some stuff from GTR-Garage, and somewhere in the process I agreed to write a review of my experience -- so here it is.
If you're impatient, I'll give you the tl;dr now: it was a good experience.
Now, for the longer version! I just want to mention off the start that I believe they ship items in different ways, so just make sure you double check (if you care) how you're getting the items and in about what time frame.
I think the biggest thing I want to relay is that I'm not sure if there are other people that work with GTR-Garage, but I dealt with Kunio. The communication was awesome, I basically originally contacted him about some of the items posted, and we talked a bit about getting a few things -- negotiated some pricing -- and that sealed the deal. You get a pretty easy invoice to work with through FreshBooks, I personally paid by credit card, but I think they provide other options too.
Two things that happened during my order I thought are worth mentioning as a positive experience.
First of all, I ordered a downpipe, and Kunio contacted me before shipping letting me know that the one they were going to send had a crack in it, and then provided me with 3 different options (which were either saving me money or getting a small upgrade for the same price as I'd already paid) -- I think that was fair and we didn't have to waste time if it got here un-inspected and damaged.
Second, a set of turbo-s I wanted was sold to someone else after I inquired about it. The solution was once again pretty similar, I was offered the same turbo model that I ordered, but a different set, or a similar, but slightly different model.
I know some people may see these as hitches, but I think the communication and options offered were good and showed a good level of commitment by the seller to make this successful.
Obviously in the end when ordering parts (used or new), it's the quality of what arrives that matters... so it's picture time!
A mix of items... (I realize I didn't resize the images nearly enough, so going to link most of the rest).
What I basically ordered: HKS GT-SS turboes, Tomei turbo elbows, Tomei exhaust manifolds, Tomei fuel pump, and HKS cam pulleys. You can also see that I talked Kunio into saving me some time and getting the needed gaskets for these parts which was great!
The images are larger, than the forum shrinks them, which is great, because I thought I horribly screwed up be resizing them too big. But feel free to open in new window I guess for full size.
The exhaust manifolds, they were used of course. Nothing to complain about here.
The box that part of the order was in, everything was pretty well packed, and it needed it -- see later.
The front pipe, once again everything was fine.
These were new, so I just really opened them to make sure there were no "new" defects.
The fuel pump, some of the wiring was stripped, so going to have to clean that up. Not a big deal, but it wasn't possible to see this on the pictures on the GTR site.
Finally, the turboes, just trying to convey how they look overall, and point out what I mean about shipping and good packaging.
As you can see here below, one of the studs (not bolts -- thanks amnash) was clean sheared off somewhere in shipping. Obviously not the end of the world, but something to be mindful of items.
So yeah, I hope this helps to explain what to expect when ordering from GTR-Garage and just from international dealers period. I'm new to this, but I would definitely see what Kunio has to offer in the future as funds and desire allow.
If you have any questions, I guess ask away?
If you're impatient, I'll give you the tl;dr now: it was a good experience.
Now, for the longer version! I just want to mention off the start that I believe they ship items in different ways, so just make sure you double check (if you care) how you're getting the items and in about what time frame.
I think the biggest thing I want to relay is that I'm not sure if there are other people that work with GTR-Garage, but I dealt with Kunio. The communication was awesome, I basically originally contacted him about some of the items posted, and we talked a bit about getting a few things -- negotiated some pricing -- and that sealed the deal. You get a pretty easy invoice to work with through FreshBooks, I personally paid by credit card, but I think they provide other options too.
Two things that happened during my order I thought are worth mentioning as a positive experience.
First of all, I ordered a downpipe, and Kunio contacted me before shipping letting me know that the one they were going to send had a crack in it, and then provided me with 3 different options (which were either saving me money or getting a small upgrade for the same price as I'd already paid) -- I think that was fair and we didn't have to waste time if it got here un-inspected and damaged.
Second, a set of turbo-s I wanted was sold to someone else after I inquired about it. The solution was once again pretty similar, I was offered the same turbo model that I ordered, but a different set, or a similar, but slightly different model.
I know some people may see these as hitches, but I think the communication and options offered were good and showed a good level of commitment by the seller to make this successful.
Obviously in the end when ordering parts (used or new), it's the quality of what arrives that matters... so it's picture time!
A mix of items... (I realize I didn't resize the images nearly enough, so going to link most of the rest).
What I basically ordered: HKS GT-SS turboes, Tomei turbo elbows, Tomei exhaust manifolds, Tomei fuel pump, and HKS cam pulleys. You can also see that I talked Kunio into saving me some time and getting the needed gaskets for these parts which was great!
The images are larger, than the forum shrinks them, which is great, because I thought I horribly screwed up be resizing them too big. But feel free to open in new window I guess for full size.
The exhaust manifolds, they were used of course. Nothing to complain about here.
The box that part of the order was in, everything was pretty well packed, and it needed it -- see later.
The front pipe, once again everything was fine.
These were new, so I just really opened them to make sure there were no "new" defects.
The fuel pump, some of the wiring was stripped, so going to have to clean that up. Not a big deal, but it wasn't possible to see this on the pictures on the GTR site.
Finally, the turboes, just trying to convey how they look overall, and point out what I mean about shipping and good packaging.
As you can see here below, one of the studs (not bolts -- thanks amnash) was clean sheared off somewhere in shipping. Obviously not the end of the world, but something to be mindful of items.
So yeah, I hope this helps to explain what to expect when ordering from GTR-Garage and just from international dealers period. I'm new to this, but I would definitely see what Kunio has to offer in the future as funds and desire allow.
If you have any questions, I guess ask away?
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