[Jamesjedi]

Hi,

Curious to hear if any Apex or VMR wheels have been cracking? Any designs to avoid?

Trying to narrow my search. The SM-7 is very reasonably priced, but sm-10 is a fair bit more. Also, VMR are cheaper. Trying to see if there is a reason. Thanks!

[JD11937]

Originally Posted by Jamesjedi

Hi,

Curious to hear if any Apex or VMR wheels have been cracking? Any designs to avoid?

Trying to narrow my search. The SM-7 is very reasonably priced, but sm-10 is a fair bit more. Also, VMR are cheaper. Trying to see if there is a reason. Thanks!

I've had 19" vmrs, 18"vmrs, and now 18" forged apex wheels. I definitely recommend 18s unless you live somewhere with pristine roads, just not enough tire on them and they will get bent. I haven't tried the regular apex wheels but the forged are clearly stronger and lighter. VMR wheels look great and are easy on the wallet but if I had to do it all over again I would have gone straight to the apex wheels.

[Jamesjedi]

Thanks for the reply. Forged = better. Also more expensive. I would think that the flow formed wheels are made fairly well.

VMR are nicely priced, I wonder if the flow formed are as strong the Apex?

[matty_peps]

VMR is nicely priced, for sure, when compared to the Apexes. Keep in mind, they are generally considerably heavier than a comparable Apex when comparing by size. Sometimes as much as 3-7 lbs. per wheel. If you're looking for a tangible performance gain by changing wheels, reducing weight per corner should be a priority.

[Jamesjedi]

Cheers. Good to know. Now I will check for sizes. Both rim and tire. Thanks again.

[4Hockey4]

Apex Flow formed is good, also Titan 7 ts-5 forged are $500 each, weigh 18 lbs, but sounds like it may be over budget.

[Jamesjedi]

Thanks. yes BUDGET is always a consideration.

[Heitzer]

If budget is a concern, I have run the Enkei Raijin's as winter tires for six season. They have hold up well. They weigh 20lbs in 18x8 which was the lowest weight I could find at tirerack at this price point.

They are ~ $230 and available in Hyper silver, black and other colors. Not a dream wheel but not bad either. Lots of pics on this forum for this wheel.

[Jamesjedi]

Cheers! I am finding some Apex wheels at a reasonable price. Still figuring out the offsets.

Apex Wheels PS71895ET33SMBK | Apex Wheels PS-7 Satin Black (18"x9.5", 33 Offset, 5x120 Bolt Pattern, 72.56mm Center Bore)

[spidy512]

Originally Posted by Jamesjedi

Cheers! I am finding some Apex wheels at a reasonable price. Still figuring out the offsets.

Apex Wheels PS71895ET33SMBK | Apex Wheels PS-7 Satin Black (18"x9.5", 33 Offset, 5x120 Bolt Pattern, 72.56mm Center Bore)

That offset will poke.

I have 19x9 BBS CHR ET44, 255/30 Yoko's, and a 10mm spacer. Effective ET is 34. With that set up at stock height there are no issues. The rear pokes out from the fender 5-8mm. It is not totally ideal, and a 5mm spacer would probably make it perfect. But I plan to get 18x9.5 ET 43 Apex EC7's sooner than later. There is another member who successfully running them lowered with 265/30's. Apex will recommend the ET58 version of the same wheel for our cars.

The wheel you are talking about above will have about 6mm more poke on what I am running.

Ideal offset for the rear is ~44-58 depending on wheel width. If you head over top Apex Racing website they have a great guide for fitting wheels to the f22's.

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a wall of words....

josh

[Jamesjedi]

I wish I had the money and nuttiness to flare the fenders like I did on my old 944. The VMR may have a history of cracking on the track???? Sometimes the internet spreads a story that may have been a "one off". However, I do not want a cracked wheel at speed.

VMR 703 looks great, and better priced. The EC7 is more money, but a better wheel for track duty?

Trying to find a best answer. Weight is not everything with wheels. Un-sprung weight is a big deal, but it is a compromise with a street driven car. Thanks.

[Jamesjedi]

Spidy512, I was wondering about the 18x9.5 ET 43 Apex EC7's as well. Will they rub under a hard corner on the track? Very expensive scenario if they do. I almost ruined a new pair of R888's with them rubbing in just 3 miles.

[BEM-S4]

Apex is a better quality / more durable wheel or so I am told. I have them on multiple cars. Downside is limited styles to choose from.

[spidy512]

Originally Posted by Jamesjedi

Spidy512, I was wondering about the 18x9.5 ET 43 Apex EC7's as well. Will they rub under a hard corner on the track? Very expensive scenario if they do. I almost ruined a new pair of R888's with them rubbing in just 3 miles.

It really depends on a few things. Tire width varies dramatically from one manufacturer to the next for the same size tire. But I read somewhere here that a member has that size wheel running 265's. Tail the Apex wheel thread, the car I speak of is black. The owner did quite a bit of modifying to achieve a "weekend" race car. Although I believe he dailies it as well.

Another good resource I use to gauge wheel tire fit is this
= https://www.willtheyfit.com/

It is a simple little tool that helps me visualize what options I have. It help also eliminate quickly sizes that will simply not work, or makes no sense cost wise.

josh

[4Hockey4]

If you are tracking, smaller is better. I looked at the Apex Flow formed at 18x8.5 which should fit with small spacer up front, no other mods. If 235/40 is wide enough, otherwise some mods may be needed.

Also I saw the Apex Arc 8 on, nice looking wheel, and has deeper set than EC-7R if you are going bigger calipers in future. I almost joined their group buy for their forged, but couldn't pass up the Titans. My net ET is 41, and almost flush in front. Net ET35 is probably flush in front, lots of info on wheel thread for that.

Tom from Apex is on Apex thread and will answer any and all questions.

[Expert@ApexWheels]

Sorry, I need to spend more time checking other threads but I'm happy to jump in as needed. I think I addressed the 265 section tire question on the gallery thread already, but let me know if I need to clarify.

Saw some questions about cracking and wheel materials as well so I figured I would offer some input here. Our wheels along with any other wheel can crack, but they don't often do so. We have a replacement program to help anyone that damages their APEX wheels within the first 2 years of ownership even if it's damage from an accident when the car is parked or a driver goes off track because of brake failure or wheel-to-wheel racing. You'll get half off a replacement wheel when you ship the damaged one back to us. This program was created to encourage you to drive the wheels hard on track which is exactly what they were made for.

Forged is often brought up as being the gold standard for wheels with good reason. Forging aligns the grain structure of the alloys used (Aluminum alloy in almost all cases) to make the material stronger pound-for-pound than a non-forged cast or flow-formed wheel. An important point to make here though is that not all forged wheels are stronger than a flow-formed wheel or even cast wheel. The strength of any wheel comes from the base materials/manufacturing processes and the design of the wheel. APEX or other wheel companies could easily make cast wheels that are stronger than our forged wheels, but they would be boat anchors. They would be extremely heavy to achieve the same load rating with thick barrels and inner lips; not ideal. Forged wheels are ideal because the material is stronger post-forging so you can use less of it to make the wheel lighter while supporting the same given weight or make a wheel of the same weight that is stronger for applications where additional strength is required like cars with slicks and aero. Our flow-formed wheels are a wheel that is cast initially and then has the barrel stretched and shaped post-casting to give the barrel similar properties to that of a forged wheel. The barrel of the wheel is the part that is most likely to be damaged and it's also on the outer edge of the wheel where rotational mass matters most. Flow forming allows us to make this section stronger without the additional cost of stamping a piece of billet and then machining it down as we do with our forged wheels.

This is a long-winded way of saying not all forged wheels are stronger and lighter than flow formed or cast wheels. In most cases they are, but it depends on the engineering goal/design of the wheel manufacturer and the production execution/quality control across their product lines.

Someone mentioned PS-7s. Good wheels and I still like the design, but we no longer manufacture them (EC-7s do almost everything better). If you have a set enjoy the exclusivity!

Lastly, I would echo those who pointed out that smaller diameter wheels offer better wheel protection. Alongside their other numerous advantages, smaller wheels with taller tires will protect any wheel more than a larger diameter wheel with skinny tires in the areas that matter most, the inner and outer lips. The downsides with smaller wheels would be brake clearance and looks (subjective).

Hope this helps. Sorry about the long post.

-Tom

[spidy512]

Nice write up Tom!

I will echo the smaller diameter wheels. I mentioned this in another thread as well as now that I am driving this car more often (2k miles in the first 6 months during the 'demic, MUCH more now) I am realizing the downfalls of 19" wheels on Bay Area roads. I mean, it wasn't like I didn't know what I was getting in to. I just have had a dream of owing BBS CHR's in 19" on a German car. I can now move on....haha.

It is especially noticeable when I am pushing the car a bit. The shorter, stiffer sidewalls are unsettling the car on uneven and broken up sections of road. For a daily driven car I cannot recommend 19's. Maybe for the shows or meets...

Also Jamesjedi I didn't answer your VMR vs Apex. The only experience I have with either is an unfortunate experience with VMR customer service. Otherwise I would be on VMR's right now. There are thousands of other who had great luck, and the 703's are absolutely a classic look on these cars. I have not heard of any cracking or quality issues.

If I were autocrossing or headed to the track, Apex Wheels hands down. Apex has a great rep from what I have researched, and is about a 35 minute drive from my place. Which just sweetens the deal for me even more. But their dedication to the race scene as and BMW's in general has earned them a solid spot in the BMW community. I hope to have a set of 18" FL-5's in black as soon when they get some in stock.

Whatever you get, make sure to post pics!

josh

[Jamesjedi]

Super replies. Thanks.