nice! Welcome to the forum man! I'm not too far from Spangdahlem.. I'm out at Ramstein. Gotta love Germany! Always good times out here. Too bad you came during the winter months. Its all good though. Best time for snowboarding though! Well.. Have a good one!
Hello to all, I am living in Schweinfurt, it's about 20 min's north of Bamburg. We should all try to set up a meeting, maybe the 4th of July or something like that.....
Good to know there are other my.is people out there in Germany. I'll be out there with you this July on orders. I can't wait. Hopefully it'll be a decent change from dull, flat, boring Kansas... Hopefully I can bring my '02 out there if the process isn't too ridiculous.
Shipping your car is really easy. You might have to drive it down to Georgia to ship it though. Shipping it back is the tough part. But only because it gets inspected for dirt. Just take it to a good car wash before and you'll be good.
That shouldn't be a problem. I'm picky about keeping the car clean and I know how bad inspectors are about dirt. These inspectors out here while we're getting ready leave can be real jerks if your stuff isn't clean. I'm glad there's people out there that have an IS. Maybe I can actually get around to meeting people for once. Yeah St. Louis is way closer... A guy I used to work with shipped his Camaro through there before he pcs'd to Hawaii. I just hope I don't get in any trouble. The only time I've been in Germany was just long enough for the plane to refuel in Leipzig then be on my way to the sand box. Anyone close to Ansbach?
Insurance isn't bad if you have USAA. make sure everything on your car is in working order, because you have to have it inspected yearly to get plates, and there super picky about it. What do you have done?
Usaa's definately the way to go. They've helped me out a lot. Not much done to it yet. Intake, clutch, flywheel, strut bar, exhaust, carbon fiber hood and a B&M shifter. A lot of it's from the old car. The Stoptech brakes aren't back on yet. Biggest thing I need done is the lower control arms. I was hoping Fig would have his done already but I'll probably have to get stock control arms for now. That's the only issue really.
I was just thinking how it costs an arm for premium just so I can get to work and back in Kansas. I don't know what octane they have at the pumps but what do you pay for gas over there?
For gas we pay the "national average" around 3.30 a gallon. For full coverage insurance on my insurance with no tickets or accidents is around 150 a month. Any other questions? I'd be happy to answer if you have any
Well that's gonna sting a bit. I wrecked my other IS almost 2 years ago and had and a few minor tickets. I guess I can deal with 3.30 a gallon. I thought it'd be far worse than that. I read somewhere regular there is 93 Octane? Premium around where I'm stationed in Kansas is only 91 and few places have it. My car absolutely hates anything else so it's a pain. Do you use regular over there in your IS? Another thing, is there any shops or dealers within reasonable distance to work on a IS300? After leave and everything else is over I'll only have maybe 2 months to work on the car before I have to report in July so I'll need someplace that can assist with it.
You can always use your fuel rations card to buy gas off post. That way you get the quality German gas and keep the US price. I ran the shit out of my IS and never had a problem with the gas on post.
As for maintenance, there are car lifts at almost all the posts. So if you're good with a wrench, you can do all your own maintenance. If you need help with something major, hit up OG 187 or psaiko, they are really good with tools.
Gas is rationed in Germany. I forget how many liters you get a month, but I only ran out once. And that time I was driving ALL over Germany, and I ran out like the last day of the month. When I left, they kept track of your gas by use of a special credit card they gave you. When you would get gas, the receipt would say how many liters you had left in the month. The actually worked more like a debit card. You could load money onto it and then go off post and buy German gas using the balance on the card. But you couldn't go over that balance or you would have to pay for the WHOLE purchase in Euro and at the German rate. So as long as you make wure you have enough cash on your card, you can buy gas on the economy quit easily.
As for aftermarket parts, getting them shipped to an APO box is the same as shipping to a stateside address(New York to be exact). There are some limitations on size and weight though. The largest thing I've ever had shipped over there was a 156cm Snow board. What parts of you thinking of getting?
Nothing huge. The biggest I can think of would be coilovers if I don't get to them before I leave Kansas. Possibly tires too if I can't get them anywhere nearby. I was just curious if it was real expensive to get parts since there aren't any places around to get them and thanks for explaining the gas card detail.
I've had both of those shipped to my APO. The tires get shipped without any packaging so they are easy. The coilovers were close on the weight limit but worst come to worst, you have to separate them into two boxes before shipment. Another good thing about APO is that shipping from APO to APO is free(most of the time). So if you have a friend stationed in Japan, he can ship you stuff for free(that's how I got my coilovers).
Haven’t checked in here in a while. Great to see some chatter going on up in the APO – Germany Forum.
I love this country but I have had a lot of trouble trying to get stuff done… I can’t take my car to a dealership because its modified and don’t think they will touch it…I'll try it if I have to. Shipping my Stance Coilovers and other stuff has been the EZ part. Thanks to "The OG" I have been able to get some stuff done. After some Swaybars, Coilovers and a good alignment my car drives like a dream . . .
For those that have been here for awhile.. Do you know of a good place to get body work done? Looking for good prices and quality work. My C-West front and rear bumper got damaged, but I haven't been here long enough to find a shop that deal with body kits.
Not sure where you are exactly but I know that Vehicle Visions | Tuning & Reparatur: KFZ Meisterwerkstatt in Wiesbaden-Nordenstadt (near Wiesbaden Air Base) does custom fiberglass work and body kits. I believe they are fair on prices however the exchange rate is so bad that it will be expensive anywhere you go.. if you can find a place.
Phone +49 (0)6122 7070820 ask for Danial [ his specialty is fiberglass and NOS ]
Sup biatches? Anything new? I hit a raccoon while driving from Texas to Arizona. Now I need to get my shit repainted and the lower grill of my bumper needs to be straightend out.
Can any of you send me a doner? I've been craving one for a long time now Actually, send me a bunch of Turks so they can open a doner stand over here.
Doesn't seem like anyone reads this but I'm in Germany and the IS is on it's long, painfully slow journey on the boat. Who wants to help me put on a ton of Figs stuff when it get's here?
I can help you!
But I could also need some help to built my own drift IS200 so I can watch my three IS Mk1 every day and choose which one fits best for my actual mood
OG 187 lives in Neu-Ulm which is about an hour and 1/2 away. He has a car lift too so you might try sending him a PM. But Fig's stuff is pretty straight forward for installs. You should be able to tackle it by your self using the lifts and tools on Katterbach.
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