This is a great question! We have seen every level of packaging here, from people sending in a turbo in a box with literally nothing to people building wooden crates, bagging the turbo, and using expanding foam to seal the turbo in place.
Best practices for shipping a turbo:
- Put the turbo in a bag, this keeps debris and packing material out of critical parts of the turbo.
- Find a quality box (preferably double wall) that is ~2-3 inches bigger than the turbo in each dimension
- Use heavy duty packing materials such as newspaper, medium-high density foam, heavy towels, etc.
- Pack as much packing material as you can in the box, if you shake the box and the turbo moves AT ALL, add more until it cannot move around.
- Assume the worst treatment possible, overpacking is ALWAYS better than underpacking. We will document any sort of damage we see on arrival, shipping companies rarely ever approve claims if you did a poor job packing your turbo.
- Include your Rebuild and Upgrade Form filled out and in the box with the turbo. It's a good idea to put this in a zip lock or envelope to keep it safe and legible.
- When you've done your best work and everything is ready to go, we recommend using UPS through www.pirateship.com as it will save you a bunch of money vs going to a store for the exact same service. Avoid USPS if possible.
- Drop it off and save your tracking information, it generally takes us 1-2 days to get it checked in and you will receive an email showing that we have it entered into our system!