Apex Wheels

Calling Porsche Track Enthusiasts!

Eric from APEX Race Parts here. (Don’t worry, I’m not just another internet sales guy - I’m actually leading APEX’s Porsche wheel development.)

For those of you who know us from our roots in the BMW world, you know that we develop our performance wheels based on real world experiences and feedback from go-fast enthusiasts. (You!) We’ve been flooded with requests to develop some Porsche-specific wheels and now we have the team in place to make it happen! We’ve got a few fitment ideas in mind, but we really want to pick your brain before we pull the trigger. Got a few minutes to help us out?

[Give us your 2 cents]

Once we get a better understanding of your deepest wishes and desires for an affordable (yet race-proven) set of shoes for your car, we’ll put our creative and engineerings minds to work to develop a lineup of APEX wheels that makes sense whether you’re in the market for street or track-worthy wheels.

So, who am I? Well, many things, but the important thing is that I’ve been neck-deep in the performance driving world for years - HDPE’ing and Time Trialing my Porsche around the Northern California tracks every opportunity that I get. If you’re like me and have spent time in the paddock, you’ve surely seen the majority of BMWs on a set of APEX wheels. Over the past 10 years, it was obvious that APEX dedicated themselves to fill voids and ease pains the BMW enthusiasts felt in regards to wheel quality, affordability, and availability. By enlisting fellow enthusiasts in the decision making process, APEX incorporated forum members into product development and connected with their community in a way that no one else in the motorsports world had. Hungry to implement that in other track oriented markets, I proposed the idea of a Porsche department to APEX, and voila! That’s why I’m reaching out to you now.

Now that we’re all gearing up for the off-season builds, repairs, and modifications, I speak for the whole team when I say that we’re ecstatic to get the wheels rolling (pun intended) on developing off-the-shelf, race engineered, lightweight fitments that are perfect for your beloved Porsche.

The best way to help would be to tell us a bit more about what you’d look for and expect in a set of track proven, dependable, and affordable wheels. When you grab your next cup of coffee, could you take a minute to share your thoughts with us?

[Take our Porsche Wheel Survey]

Please stay tuned and we will surely keep you updated as our Porsche division progresses!

Happy tracking,
Eric

11/27 UPDATE:
Shown below are our 18" APEX SM-10 in profile 1 (front) concavity and profile 2 (rear) concavity.

Satin black -


Anthracite -


Hyper Silver -

PorscheAddict

Hell yeah! I had ARC-8 on my E92 M3 and liked them a lot for the money. They're still kicking as a buddy's track wheels years down the road (and thousands of laps).

ajw45

Awesome! I have Arc 8s on my Z4m coupe and they've been great. When looking for wheels for my GT4 I was bummed at how few options there were in non oem sizes. Similar to my Z4m I wanted to find a set that was a bit wider up front but retain the stock rear sizing.... And maybe even downsize from 20's to 19's if I could find wheels that reliably cleared the PCCBs.

In addition to the lighter weight and variety of offsets and sizes you guys offer, one of the things I like most is your testing for fit on real cars. It made it really easy to order wider wheels and feel confident the fitment/offset would be perfect. It feels like every week there's another RL thread about wheels that don't fit....

sunset gun

Good looking wheels. Also in your favor are your apparent JWL/VIA documentation and your transparency about the certifications, although I am aware of at least one popular wheel sold under at least three brands that claims JWL/VIA certification, and the wheel(s) are soft junk/trash/crap. A successful retailer in SoCal, and a distributor in Las Vegas sell these very good looking abominations by the container every month. Theirs are Chinese. Don't know if mainland or Taiwan-strongly suspect mainland.
I don't mean to infer yours have anything to do with the bad wheels. To the contrary, I do get the distinct impression that your Apex wheels are legit, based on things like having Turner as one of your re-sellers. I'm not a BMW guy, but do respect the cars, and I know Turner has been highly regarded for years. Don't think they would be involved with charlatans or scalawags.
If you don't mind, where are your wheels manufactured? Are they all made in the same facility?
Thanks for listening, and best of luck with your brave foray into P World.

Klepper

This is great news! I had EC-7's for my 1M, and ARC-8's for my E46.

I love me some APEX wheels!

Apex Wheels

I appreciate the energy and positive comments brought to this thread thus far. Thank you all for your continued support! It is always great to get feedback from enthusiasts who have a history of putting our products to the test within other vehicle platforms. We are here to infuse the same features of quality, chassis optimization, and cost effectiveness into the Porsche performance driving community as well.

Thank you for your comments. We always welcome these questions as there are a lot of shady practices in the wheel industry when it comes to how they represent manufacturing and certification. Any opportunity to shed light on the subject is one that always helps illustrate APEX’s strengths.

We’ve been in business for 10 years, and we’ve stuck with one supplier in China. We chose them because they already had the equipment to Flow-Form which was rare back then, and their primary customers were big OEMs and other Japanese wheel manufacturers. What’s kept our relationship strong has been their willingness to further increase their QA standards at our request, and to support our extensive crush testing despite our low production volumes.

I can’t speak with any certainty on where another wheel is manufactured, but if they have a history of being soft and low quality, then it’s almost certainly not from our supplier as we’re definitely paying a premium to get the quality we require. As flow-forming became popular, a lot of other manufacturers have popped up offering similar services. If a vendor doesn’t come to a supplier with any of their own standards, and they’re just looking for a wheel, then there are a lot of suppliers out there now that are happy to cater to vendors just looking for another thing to sell.

For anything manufactured overseas, real world testing and independent checks are required to ensure you get quality out of a supplier. Done right, you get an iphone. Done wrong, you get exploding hoverboards. This is where the biggest differences start to reveal themselves in the wheel industry. It’s clear that most brands don’t even understand how to keep their suppliers in check as they’ll claim JWL and VIA on product that clearly haven’t been tested. We can tell they’re misrepresenting their products because there is a database that contains all the supplier names, wheel models, and test related data for every wheels that’s ever been certified by the VIA. Most wheels aren’t on that list as they’ve never been tested. Some vendors are novices that and assume they’re tested or they work with suppliers that tell them they’re tested, while others purposefully skip it to save costs. Both make you really worry about what other corners are being cut or missed.

After multiple computer revisions and FEA, we run real world impact, load, and crush tests for every unique wheel spec. Even if the offset change is only 1mm different on a new size, we still do the tests. Since all of this testing is done in-house, we need to keep our supplier in check. When they’re done we send wheels to the VIA in Japan which is a government testing organization. They real world crush test our wheels again and provide 3rd party validation that corners aren’t being cut.

This thorough testing gives us the confidence that we’re producing quality product that’s worthy of being driven at the limits on track. The last 10 years of customers beating on our wheels is proof that we’ve accomplished just that.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

sunset gun

Thank you for your thorough, clear reply. I've had experience with Chinese manufacturers, and mine parallel yours, i.e., you get what you demand, and what you pay for, and constant vigilance is your only friend. China is capable of very high quality in nearly any sort of manufacturing, but pressures on small and medium companies in their very "wild west" world make cutting corners hugely tempting. Getting them to understand that quality in every step of the process is the highest priority can be challenging. Happily for you, you seem to have succeeded on that point.

So many Porsche owners have been caught in wheel horror fiascos over the years that you (Apex) face a lot skepticism. Your success with BMW, and your transparency (and patience) will get you accepted and, ultimately, trusted. Keep doing exactly what you're doing.

Functionally, you're going to need more 19s and 20s sooner than later, as I'm sure you know.

Thanks again

Scooby921

I must admit that as an enginerd in the automotive industry it makes me smile when I see the aftermarket doing things like FEA and destructive testing. I'm always happy to see the aftermarket taking steps toward OEM processes. Almost every part on a car goes through some kind of FEA to optimize the design and reduce weight while maintaining stress/strain below a certain threshold. Then everything gets tested to destruction to build s-n curves and confirm the design stress/strain levels will allow the part to survive the life of the vehicle.

Apex Wheels

We're thrilled that you can see our level of devotion to the motorsports realm. While the costs of true testing, modifying design, and retesting adds up, we see it as an absolute necessity.

Boutique forged wheels are generally only computer simulation tested, and the cast wheels are in-house tested by the manufacturer to their own standard, but never 3rd party verified. It's those that lack true, transparent certification and chassis specific optimization that often deliver a product with a number of shortcuts. Ultimately, these compromises are at the user's expense.

We welcome the opportunity to converse with the community about our manufacturing, certification and quality control process, as these are the questions that all enthusiasts should be asking before making an educated wheel purchase.

Apex Wheels

We're still urging enthusiasts to take our survey! The developing trends we spot and feedback we receive are directly responsible for what we produce.

Macduff

I run Apex EC-7's on my e92 m3 track car and love them. Great price, quality, offset options, and big brake fitment. Wish these were an option for my 997.2 when I had it.

I don't have a porsche at the moment but I would say focus on 18" wheels if that is a possibility. Opens the door to so many additional track tire options that aren't necessarily made in 19 or 20-inch sizes.

Apex Wheels

Many thanks for the kind words! We hope to see you back in another Porsche soon, although I certainly approve of your current M... The S65 is magical.

With my data, knowledge, and the survey as indications, we agree that 18" offerings will likely be the focus in our first production run. We're in the midst of FEA optimization and working to ensure clearance on OEM/aftermarket 6pot 380mm brake kits, so I'm looking forward to sharing good news here shortly!

Apex Wheels

Slow news day here, but have a question for the community.

If given the option, would you be willing to add .25lbs to the weight of each wheel for center cap accommodation? The center cone would need to be enlarged to accept an APEX or Porsche cap, thus, minimally increasing weight. Both options will still be hub-centric, so it is purely aesthetic preference.

Option 1: No center cap, .25lbs lighter
Option 2: Ability to run center cap, but .25 lbs heavier

You can mull over the pictures below and please let me know your thoughts.

jscott82

Any idea on eta for these? Ill be buying a couple of sets of wheels before spring. These seem promising, should I hold out for you or are you targeting a longer timeline?

Apex Wheels

I expect to have our pre-orders set up and initial group buy live by late 2017/early 2018. Wheels will likely be in enthusiast's hands by late Q1 2018; ideally before the start of the track season. I'll absolutely keep you updated with an ETA as I have solidified dates.