Street Aero Packaging & Shipping: How Your Order Arrives

A rear diffuser is a five-foot panel with fins down the middle of it. Nothing about that shape wants to be put in a box.

So we stopped treating the box as something the part goes into and started treating it as the last thing we build. What follows is our own shop, our own photographs, and real orders packed the way every order gets packed.

What a reviewer said about it

A BRZ owner who bought a diffuser in 2020 and reviewed it on his own channel, with nobody asking him to.

Ninety seconds, cued to his packaging chapter. It is a full review and he had criticisms elsewhere in it, the whole thing is one click away, unedited. it is also from 2020, which since then our boxes and packaging has gotten significantly better. What has not changed is the standard, and the photographs below are what it looks like today.

TTR_GARAGE

“Packaging and shipping they get an A++”

Packaging and shipping they get an A++ … out of all the parts I’ve gotten for this car, this is one of the best packaged things I’ve ever gotten to be completely honest.

Rear diffuser, 2020

“Should You Buy A Diffuser From Street Aero?”, 2 April 2020 · watch on YouTube

Every order leaves the same way

Seven photographs from the packing bench. Front splitters, side splitters, rear diffusers.

A complete Street Aero front splitter and side splitter set, each panel under its protective film with foam along the edges, stretch-wrapped down to a single sheet of corrugated board

A full kit leaves as one piece. Front splitter and both side splitters, each still wearing the protective film they were cut under, foam laid along every edge, and the whole set wrapped down to one sheet of board so nothing can move against anything else on the way to you.

A flat Street Aero shipping box beside a rear diffuser already foam-wrapped and stretch-wrapped onto its corrugated tray, ready to go in

The same shipment, before and after. The diffuser is wrapped to a tray first and the tray goes into the box, so the part is never loose inside a carton and never resting against the walls that take the knocks.

A single Street Aero front splitter under protective film, stretch-wrapped flat to a large sheet of corrugated board on the shop bench

A front splitter, wrapped flat on board wider than the part, so every edge and corner has material outboard of it.

A long flat Street Aero shipping box stamped FRAGILE with a handwritten size label, next to a foam-wrapped side splitter pair on its corrugated tray

Side splitters ship in a long flat box, marked and hand-labelled with the size actually inside it. Foam above and below the pair before either goes near the box.

A foam-wrapped and stretch-wrapped Street Aero rear diffuser part-way into its open shipping box

Going in. The wrapped tray slides in as one unit, which is also the only way to get a part this shape into a box without dragging a corner down the inside of it.

A Street Aero rear diffuser with foam sheet over its fins, stretch-wrapped to a corrugated tray, box panel alongside

Foam goes over the fins, not just under the panel. On a diffuser the fins stand proudest, so they are what a dropped box finds first.

A wrapped Street Aero rear diffuser with two separate small hardware cartons wrapped in alongside it on the same corrugated tray

Hardware travels in its own boxes, fixed to the same tray rather than loose in the carton. Loose fasteners in a long flat box do not stay where you put them.

Why it is built like this

Four decisions, and the reason behind each one.

It is 275# double-wall board, not a carton.

The pad your part is taped to and the box it travels in are both 275# double-wall kraft. The number is the board’s burst rating, and double-wall means two fluted layers instead of one. It is the grade freight moves on rather than the grade parcels move in, it costs considerably more than the single-wall equivalent, and it is the reason a five-foot box with a panel inside it does not fold when something gets stacked on it.

The part is taped to a pad, then shake-tested by hand.

Every panel is wrapped in foam, taped down to its cardboard pad, and then physically lifted and shaken by the person who packed it. If anything shifts, it comes apart and gets re-taped until nothing moves. That check is a written step in our packing instructions, not a nicety — a part that can move inside its box is a part that arrives marked.

Foam goes on before anything touches anything.

Each piece gets its own strip of 1/16in foam sheet: the main panel wrapped so every face is covered, each side panel, each fin individually. On front splitters we lay foam heavily over every edge sitting within two inches of the pad edge, because those are the edges a dropped box finds. And the instructions are explicit that parts are never slid across the foam while being wrapped, because sliding them scratches the finish.

Then the whole thing gets wrapped and stuffed.

Clear 80-gauge stretch wrap goes around the pad and the parts together, tight enough that they move as one object, and 40# kraft paper fills what is left. Diffusers with bent sections get small support boxes set over those bends so a heavy load landing on the carton cannot snap them. The side splitter box is printed FRAGILE, one colour on one panel, because it is eight feet long and needs to be handled like it.

Double-wall board costs meaningfully more than the single-wall carton this could ship in, and the foam, the stretch wrap and the kraft paper all cost more than shipping a part loose. That is a trade we made deliberately. A panel that arrives creased is not a shipping inconvenience, it is a refund, a rebuild, a second freight bill and a customer who waits twice — and on a made-to-order part cut for one specific car, there is no shelf to pull a replacement off.

One genuinely useful thing to know before you open anything. Street Aero’s return policy requires an eligible item to come back sealed in its original plastic packaging. So the wrap in these photographs is doing two jobs at once: it gets the part to you intact, and for as long as it stays sealed it keeps your return open. Test-fit before you cut into it, not after. Front splitters are a separate case and are final sale once they have to travel by carrier, which is exactly why we would rather you read the installation manual for your part before you order than after it lands.

What owners say about how it arrived

Three of them, about the box rather than the car.

awstin

“The packaging was absolutely flawless”

I recently bought a street aero diffuser for me 2017 Subaru BRZ. The packaging was absolutely flawless to ensure no damage was done during the shipping process. The quality and material of the hardware and aero pieces are 10/10.

2017 Subaru BRZ

Google review

goldbug

“It arrived in perfect shape”

It arrived in perfect shape and the production quality looks good.

G37 Coupe

MyG37 forum

And when it does go wrong.

Carrier handling is the one part of this we cannot control, so occasionally something still turns up wrong. There is a claims process for it below, we would rather hear about it the day it lands than a month later, and on a part cut for one specific car the fastest route to a good outcome is always photographs before anything gets installed.

There are more of these, about fitment and finish and the shop itself, on the owner reviews page.

Common questions

How is my order packaged?

Each piece is wrapped individually in 1/16in foam sheet, taped to a 275# double-wall kraft pad, then wrapped again with 80-gauge stretch film so the parts and the pad move as a single object. The packer lifts the whole thing and shakes it; if anything shifts it is re-taped until nothing does. 40# kraft paper fills the remaining space, and the pad slides into a 275# double-wall box. Diffusers with bent sections get small support boxes set over the bends. The photographs on this page are real orders, not a display build.

Will my part arrive damaged?

That is the question this page exists to answer, and the honest version is that carrier handling is the one part of the journey we do not control, which is precisely why we over-build the part we do. If something does arrive wrong there is a defined claims process, set out below, and we would much rather you used it than lived with a creased panel.

What should I do if it arrives damaged?

Do not install it, and do not ship it back without instructions from Street Aero. Keep the box, the packing material, the shipping label and all of the contents, then email info@streetaero.com promptly with your order number, a description of the damage, and photographs.

What photographs do you need for a damage claim?

A photo showing the damaged item as it was packaged, clear close-ups of every damaged area, the packing material, the shipping label and tracking number, and images covering all six sides of the box. Keep the complete shipment until the claim is resolved, because the carrier may need to inspect it.

Should I send a damaged package back to you?

No. Do not independently ship a damaged item back unless a Street Aero representative tells you to. The carrier may require the original package and contents for inspection, and returning it on your own can end the claim.

Should I keep the box?

Until you have test-fitted the part, yes. It is what a carrier will want to see if there is a claim, and an eligible return has to go back in its original packaging.

Can I still return it once I have opened the wrap?

An eligible non-custom item may be returned within 20 days of the tracking delivery date, with prior authorisation, and it must come back sealed in its original plastic packaging, complete, uninstalled, unmodified and undamaged. Opening, drilling, installing or altering the part ends that eligibility, and an approved refund may be subject to a 20% restocking fee. Custom and engraved items are final sale, and front splitter sales are final when carrier shipping is required. Full terms are on the return and refund policy page.

How long until my order ships?

Built-inventory items generally ship within one to two business days after the order is processed, excluding weekends and holidays. Custom work takes longer, and so does oversized packaging, because a made-to-measure side splitter box gets built for the order going in it. Those are processing estimates, not guaranteed delivery dates. See shipping and delivery.

Is shipping free, and do you ship internationally?

Shipping is free to physical addresses in the 48 contiguous United States. Alaska, Hawaii, US territories, PO boxes and international destinations differ. We do ship to supported international destinations shown at checkout, where duties and customs charges are calculated and prepaid at checkout when available, and international carrier pickups generally run on Tuesdays and Thursdays. See international shipping.

Ready to order?

Every one of them ships like this.

Browse front splitters, side splitters or rear diffusers. Not sure what your car takes? The installation manuals are all downloadable free before you spend anything.