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 -


Seen below are our 19" APEX SM-10 in profile 1 (front) concavity and profile 3 (rear) concavity.

Satin black -


Anthracite -


Race Silver -

Apex Wheels

Excuse my tardiness to this subsection --- After being personally active on Rennlist for years, I admittedly should've known to dig deeper for a GT4-specific subsection. I posted in the 987/981/718 general section and Planet-9, but somehow bypassed the wealth of knowledge and information here. I've had a plethora of GT4 owners reach out to me and express interest, so I'd love to further pick your brain and hear your thoughts/preferences.

You can find some fellow enthusiasts who have run APEX wheels in the past chime in on other Rennlist threads here:

ExMB

I took your survey and IMHO it was worthless. It basically wanted confirmation of what you think it ought to be.

P.S.
I also have a fiend who tracks a E30 BMW who claimed he had to wait a long time for replacement wheels in the correct fitment he needed: originals were bought via a GB.

Apex Wheels

Thank you for taking your time to complete the survey and provide your feedback. Going into this huge project, I had my inclination as to what the survey results might yield, what would be relevant, and where the current market would most benefit. I am eager to be proved right or wrong as enthusiast feedback is a direct representation of what will be initially produced. Providing a platform and open communication lines where we're able to successfully integrate forum members into product development helps tremendously in any capacity.

Regarding the delayed replacements, please keep in mind that E30 fitments are a specialty SKU. Therefore, we only do one E30-specific production run per year and those wheel selections are typically largely depleted after a group buy. Typically our wheel replacement program is a very quick & easy solution to an otherwise inopportune situation. If you're the original owner of the set and your APEX's endure any cosmetic or structural damage (from track or otherwise) you can purchase the same wheel at a 50% discount.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

ExMB

Your survey offered 19" wheels as the biggest and centered on width smaller than OEM for the fitment while ignoring the well published RL issues with the OEM BBKs (FOD between calipers and barrel) when using smaller diameters; you centered on after market BBKs. This ignored numerous tire fitment issues to maintain correct ratios as well as availability thereof.
Again; your survey was limited and not representative of the GT4 market.

Regarding my friend's E30 issue: your turn-around needs to be better than a once-a-year run to accommodate those that bought them. Expectations that people will buy spares upfront for eventualities is ****

Apex Wheels

The reason we did not include 20" in the survey or in any of our potential first wheel options is that we do not currently have the tooling to accommodate that diameter. After our initial wheels and wheel fitments are released to the community in the near future, we will absolutely explore its feasibility when we have the correct bandwidth to do so.

We're not solely focusing on aftermarket BBK's - it is worded as such in the survey so we can anticipate what chassis is most likely to install a bigger aftermarket BBK. EI: if we see that a 987 owner is running, or plans to run, an AP kit, we know now and can ensure their specific fitment will accommodate the corresponding BBK. We know that the large majority of new(er) water-cooled cars come equipped with a factory BBK, so we fully anticipated designing and engineering our wheel(s) to fit them from the get-go. We're well aware of the dire need to maintain OEM rolling radius, correct LCA/suspension/fender/brake clearance, and are working as diligently as we can to accommodate all of the above to ensure a successful no-hassle direct fit.

The survey does include the stock GT4 widths of 8.5" F, 11" R (with skinnier and wider options), so the median width is well within the range of the OEM offering. Ultimately, this was meant to be a Porsche specific survey encompassing many chassis - not only the 981. We could've gone further into depth re: specific chassis, but feared that the survey would then be too tedious and time consuming to complete.

The demand for E30-specific wheels is exceedingly low, so we produce accordingly. On all of our other wheels, we stock them on the shelf in all fitments to ensure that a wheel can be in enthusiast's hands with a day's notice before a highly anticipated track day/weekend.

Thank you for your input and honesty. Moving forward, I'll work to implement some of your insight into future surveys so it is transparent what our end goal truly is; mimic what we've successfully done in the BMW motorsports realm over 10+ years with the Porsche community.

orthojoe

Took the survey.

Would love to see more reasonable priced DURABLE wheels for the track. The only brand I've seen so far that fits the bill for me has been the OZ wheels.

Color me skeptical that forged wheels are worth the extra cost. My own personal experience has been that nonforged wheels like the OEM GT4 wheels and OZ wheels have been much more durable and reliable than the OEM forged GT3 wheels and forgeline wheels which have had multiple bends.

I'm hoping to see some 19" GT3 fitment options when my .2 arrives in April!

O5C4R

the 18" apex wheels on my old 1M were exceptional, I emailed you guys saying there is a huge opportunity with Porsche a few years back as I couldn't fine much for a Carrera S - would like an apex option for the GT4.....in 18"

doborder

Survey done
More options for porsche would be great

zmon

Great to see you guys here and exploring the P car world, you guys are needed.

run your wheels on all my E36 race cars and they are great!

moveswiftly

Yes! I'd love to see some GT4 love from Apex.

Shockwave

Been running ARC8's on my E46 M3 for quite some time on and off the track. No issues.

More choices is always a good thing.

Apex Wheels

Thank you for the warm welcome, gentlemen. I expect to have our pre-orders set up and a group buy live by late 2017/early 2018. Wheels will likely be in enthusiast's hands by late Q1 2018; ideally before the track season hits full swing. I'm looking forward to sharing more positive news in the very near future.

It has certainly been a long time coming, but we wanted to ensure that we had the proper bandwidth and correct team in place to pave way for a successful Porsche department; instilling the same energy, resources, knowledge, and customer service as we have with BMW.

I'm thrilled you've had great experiences with us in the past - thank you for sharing!

Thank you all for your continued support! I appreciate the energy and positive comments brought to this thread thus far. 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.

Yargk

I'm interested in 9X20 ET56 and 11X20 ET50 durable lightweight and reasonably priced.

ExMB

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