11-06-2018, 11:00 AM | #24 |
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WOW! Awesome car especially where you're located. I wish you all the luck tho. For the record I'm Korean so I know first hand, but Koreans (in general) don't care much for their cars esp others. They swing their doors wide open and don't give 2 flippin birds if they ding your car or not.
I really hope you have a private parking spot or even better a garage because the parking situation is a nightmare, where people leave their cars in neutral and push your car to get theirs out??? OMG But otherwise she's a beaut and really wish you all the best! I would hate for such a beautiful car get dinged by ignorant people who think a car is a car is a car. |
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11-06-2018, 12:36 PM | #27 |
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It's crazy how everything shuts down during Korean thanksgiving! I'll be visiting next month and i'll make sure I try that goo goo cone. Thanks and good luck with the break in.
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11-06-2018, 03:04 PM | #28 |
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Question: Since you bought a USDM M2C from a South Korean dealer did you pay US MSRP or Korean? I've heard S. Korean car prices are astronomical compared to US so I'm just curious.
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11-06-2018, 03:37 PM | #29 |
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You're a brave man for driving a nice car there. There's a reason why every car has a dash cam in Korea.
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11-06-2018, 04:33 PM | #32 | |
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They have dash cams because they dont have the whole invasion of privacy bs laws like we do here so accident cases are handled nice and easily via dash cam footage. |
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11-06-2018, 04:36 PM | #33 | |
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11-06-2018, 05:47 PM | #34 | ||||||||||||
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As for me, I park on the lowest basement level and in the corner, and myself and a few other cars park across multiple spaces. It's a shady move for sure, but the parking spaces are so small here and the M2 isn't compact so no matter what I'd get a door ding every time I park in a regular spot. So I park where a lot of people don't park and take up two spaces. The Ferrari two stalls over does the same thing lol I'd say you have two groups of people here - those that DO care about their car, so much so that they live in a shit apartment and have a nice G80 or Equus, and people who they have a car but they know driving sucks here so it's beat to pieces lol! Quote:
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Goo-goo cones are amazing, and I'm not just hyping it up. Definitely get the chocolate one!! Quote:
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I'm also exempt from having to do Korean state inspections so I could technically get away with a lot of stuff if I wanted to. Quote:
Biggest hardship with owning a nice car, especially in Seoul, is parking. And yeah thank god for dash cams! Quote:
As far as food, yeah a lot of things can be cheaper but meat in general is expensive when compared to the US and imported goods always carry a fat premium. If you miss your steaks be prepared to pay!
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11-06-2018, 06:57 PM | #35 |
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Dashcam install - Faaaaaail
Dashcam install - Faaaaaail
Not long after taking ownership I knew I had to get a dashcam because, well, people suck at driving here. This is the land of infinite technology, so most places have this thing where they will drive out to you and install at your house/apartment/dark alleyway. So I thought, yeah that's the best thing to do. My gf bought me a Blackvue DR550 2 channel dashcam. I like this one because it's small and compact. A lot of dashcams on the market are big, bulky squares because they include a screen - I don't need a screen because you can just tether the dashcam to your phone and watch from there... I also bought the "parking mode" piece, which allows it to continue to work when shut off, but I later realized before it got installed that when you do that with a BMW it actually voids your battery's warranty. I am currently looking for an external battery setup but as of right now they go for over $300... So we made the appointment and the kid came out to install it. ~$30 for install, discounted because we bought from their retailer, not bad right? As they say.... Be wary of things that are "too good to be true." When in doubt, pay the going rate (here it's about 80 bucks) to have a shop do it for you who, oh I don't know, does it on a regular basis. First this guy immediately starts taking all the trim pieces off so he can hide the wires. Ok great. Then once everything's in place, he starts to look for a place to get power. I would think that you would want to find power FIRST so you know how to route your lines... But nah. Shoot first, ask questions later. He is literally tearing up my passenger side front console area when I ask him, are you looking for the fuse panel?? To which he replies yes so I show him that it's in the trunk. Well he decides that he's already too far into it to route any wires back there, so he continues looking in the front. Then decides that he's going to splice into an existing wire when I stopped the show and told him that I didn't want him to do that. He gets flustered and embarrassed, rushes to put everything back together and quits and leaves. Literally. So we call his boss and his boss says that he'll do it himself - but that he can't do it that week, can't meet on a weekend, can't be after 5pm, blah blah blah so eventually I gave up and decided to do it another way. I had my M2 shop guy at least get it hooked up and fixed but I still need to get it powered permanently in the car, I just haven't had a chance to go anywhere to do that yet. Now here's the kicker - every single place I've had work on my car thus far, both my BMW specialty shop guy, the BMW dealer, my tint guy, my ceramic coating guy, all my 'guys' have told me the same thing - the dashcam install kid did a terrible, terrible job. The wiring part has since been fixed, but we were all really surprised with how bad it was. Trim pieces not installed correctly, wiring not fully hidden, the cap to the rear dash cam was still on, etc. So we gave him a 1 star review online... Jumping headfirst without checking power first I can forgive, but shoddy wiring I cannot. Online reviews in Korea hold a pretty heavy weight, so hopefully he can be trained to do it right! Lessons learned: while having someone come to your house may be convenient, it's not worth the hassle afterwards. Also, you get what you pay for.
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11-07-2018, 06:00 AM | #36 |
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Wow great story!
Glad to see another M2 in Pyeongtaek but we have never come across in this small city. I've been lurking online forums (including Korean ones) and heard that there's an M2C in Korea, delivered near Camp Humphreys...it's you! haha Btw, there are many great mountain roads in Gangwon-do, and a few nearby. |
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11-07-2018, 07:19 AM | #37 | |
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11-13-2018, 01:12 AM | #38 |
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Gotta protect the paint!
Gotta protect the paint!
I hemmed and hawed and kept going back and forth if I should do a paint protection film or if I should just do the ceramic coating, or maybe I should do a partial film, or maybe.... coating...... or maybe I should sacrifice a lamb and use it's blood to protect the paint, or maybe a paint protection film... Anyways I was really conflicted. I was most overcome by the cost of some of this stuff, especially since I could buy film online pre-cut (3M) for a huge difference in price compared to what installers charge. I even looked at some of the brands that you guys are obsessed with and it was the same thing. Sure I may not be a professional installer, but I just didn't get it. So I decided to just do a coating. I chose this place based on reviews I found online and overall I'm really happy with the results, they take a lot of pride in their work, I just wish I knew more about the product they used - it seems that most places around here don't use the common ceramic coatings that the US does, and when they do it was double the price so I didn't think it was worth it. While I was tempted to stay the entire time and watch what they did out of sheer curiosity, I refrained otherwise I would have felt my girlfriend's wrath out of her sheer boredom. So instead we took the subway to Chinatown in Incheon and ate dim sum while we waited. Meanwhile, the guy who runs the place took a bunch of pics for his own blog, and once he posted them I used them (read: I stole the pics) and I'll post them below with a rough translation of what he was talking about in his own post. His post is here. The guy was bragging a bit about how his shop has become popular amongst foreigners... Apparently I was the second "foreigner" to visit his place, the week prior a Chinese guy went there. K. Then he mentions how he was surprised when he opened the hood, and how behind he was with social media because he didn't know Korea had a M2 Competition, blah blah blah ok. He also mentioned that the rear taillights are similar to the Genesis G70 - not sure if I agree. He mentioned how he had to clean out my trunk before cleaning it, I'll admit I tend to leave stuff in there... He also made mention of my dog, who yes rides in my car with me. Made some comments about vacuuming. Time to start. He has two bays, one for washing/cleaning/correcting and the other for applying coatings, films, and curing. He also did the wheels. He also has lights for curing, which I think is pretty cool, but maybe other places do too? I'm not sure. But still, I was impressed. So overall I was happy with the experience, I will say that maybe next time I'll buy my own ceramic coating and then give it to them to apply, that way I know exactly what I'm getting and can vouch for it, otherwise I'm just going off of what someone says. I'm happy with the results though, washing the car is really simple now, water beads off, etc. I am now rethinking getting at least a protection film for the front, I largely underestimated exactly how many rocks I would come into contact with and while I already have two small nicks but it's only going to get worse, so I might do that sooner rather than later. Hindsight is always 20/20 LOL.
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11-13-2018, 01:25 AM | #39 |
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Isn't Gyeon (from South Korea) one the best products? Maybe he used that? I know lots of places down here recommend it.
http://gyeonquartz.com/about-us/ Funny story though Koreans have quite a unique culture. So much of the world thinks of "Asian culture". But one country to another can be is as distinct as France & Germany. Also they have dolsot bibimbap. Like a heathen I like to throw my Kimchi into it. So good. It's probably as culturally strange to them as it was once was when I was in London with some customers watching the Chinese tourists mixing up their muesli with bacon and eggs. |
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11-13-2018, 05:41 AM | #40 | |
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As far as the coatings, yeah I'm not too worried, there are pretty high quality products here, I just don't know a lot about them!
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11-13-2018, 03:05 PM | #41 | |
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Now that I have PPF on the front end if a hear a rock hit the front I just think "meh" whatever. I don't bother looking for more damage, because there probably isn't any. For me the cost was worth the peace of mind. |
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11-13-2018, 05:25 PM | #42 | |
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11-26-2018, 01:36 AM | #43 |
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Let's go Racing
Let's go Racing
It's amazing how something as simple as buying a car can open up so many opportunities. After meeting some fellow enthusiasts at a BMW specialty shop when I showed them my car I was invited to a spec M4 racing series. It's multiple races, and it's put on by CJ which is an entertainment conglomerate here in Korea. The CJ SuperRace is comprised of 4 classes that each race separately during the day - Cadillac 6000, which is basically a stock car with a CTS-V body, Hyundai Avante Cup, Genesis Cup, and BMW M class (which is all spec M4's). Here's some more information in English. There are I believe 8 races in the season, so this was the 7th one. They rotate tracks, so this one was held in Inje, which is far east of Seoul. Except, I was coming from even further... LOL So as you can see it's about 3 hours to get there even though it's only 214 km, which goes to show how slow people drive.... Anywho, we had to arrive by 8 to get let in by our hosts because they had qualifying at 9. So I set out on the drive. Going to Seoul is the easy part, it's going East that starts taking a lot of time because it's only two lanes each direction so slowpokes get in the left lane and camp. We arrived to the foggy, damp track. Since everyone was in a rush we were quickly escorted to the staging area and I found a prime parking spot. And watched everyone start to get prepared. Lining up... And warmup, then qualifying! The setup is pretty cool, there's even a tire sponsor that changes tires on the fly for you. There's also a hotel which overlooks the track that most of the folks stay in the night before the race. The majority of these GT86's were shipped over from Japan to take part in the race just for today. Lotta coin! This particular day these open air 4cyl racers were running too. Before the races start for the day, everyone lines up on the grid, take pictures, get the team together, etc. This particular day even had a guest singer who sang a few songs. Cadillac 6000. The team. Remember, this is entirely self-funded, so they're racing their personal M4's. One guy is the head for BMW M sales, as in he sells the most M cars every year, another is the test driver for McLaren, etc etc. For the race, it was either hanging out in the McLaren bay (they own one of the pit bays since they do testing here; no pics of inside though) or hanging out on the roof so I decided to hang out on the roof. As you can see, motorsport isn't extremely popular here, especially in a more remote location, so not very many people came. LOL The results were pretty staggering - the team leader, in the #17 car, went from 16th to 1st in 11 laps. I'll have to see if I can find in car video, it was really impressive!!! The winner gets the $8,000 cash prize and gets time penalized for the next races' qualifying. 2nd and 3rd also get a slight time penalty and they also get cash, although it's less than 1st place. The downside to winning is you have to stay for the entire rest of the races for the day for an interview at the very end... So everyone spent the time watching in car footage. I ended up leaving a bit early because I knew it was going to be a long drive, especially with traffic, home and I had to feed my dog so she wouldn't die. All in all loads of fun!
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12-05-2018, 11:30 AM | #44 |
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lol about the vpc issue. Korean males are hard headed ammirite?
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