Apex Forged Mustang Wheels | Performance Solutions for Street and Track

[ArizonaBOSS]

These look great and should perform great, as well. The "channel" inner lip (basically 1/2 an I-beam) should significantly improve impact strength.

 

[honeybadger]

Any plans to make an 18in wheel with a barrel closer to 19in to clear the stock GT350 brakes?You'd sell a ton of those to us track rats who want to run 18in scrubs

 

[Apex Wheels]

Any plans to make an 18in wheel with a barrel closer to 19in to clear the stock GT350 brakes?You'd sell a ton of those to us track rats who want to run 18in scrubs

That would be great but it's not really possible to achieve. Gotta get some AP brakes and then run the fun 18" stuff

I'm excited for the 19" Group Buy to launch next month though, hoping lots of GT350/R owners hop in for their winter upgrades.

 

[honeybadger]

That would be great but it's not really possible to achieve. Gotta get some AP brakes and then run the fun 18" stuff

I'm excited for the 19" Group Buy to launch next month though, hoping lots of GT350/R owners hop in for their winter upgrades.

Are you sure? There’s a gent at COTA who runs a custom set from Forgeline. There’s also a local wheel company down here (name is escaping me) that will do it. Both have fairly high prices at north of $6.5k. But they’d sell like hot cakes at a lower cost I think. All of us hate running 19in tires

 

[JDee]

I don't hate running 19s, I have more choice in tires with 19s than with 18s.

The reason is there is no reliable source of supply of used 18 slicks up here, 1 guy used to run the GT4 series and had tires now and then but certainly not reliable and he didn't run last year at all. Our sources for used race tires are tiny compared to what your sources are in the US of A. It's mostly amateur guys who use their tires till the cords are showing! Bringing used stuff in from the US is a losers' game with taxes, duties, rules, regulations etc etc etc.....

Sucks to be us canucks, for a lot of reasons.....but then there's the upside.
Though it escapes me at the moment what that upside is.....

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Upside is lots of good Beer, and only 37,000,000 folks in an area almost identical in size to the US of A. You guys are definitely not on top of each other in the Provinces.

 

[Apex Wheels]

Are you sure? There’s a gent at COTA who runs a custom set from Forgeline. There’s also a local wheel company down here (name is escaping me) that will do it. Both have fairly high prices at north of $6.5k. But they’d sell like hot cakes at a lower cost I think. All of us hate running 19in tires

Are they monoblock or multipiece? I can check with the engineering team but the clearances would be incredibly tight and whoever is mounting tires would hate you since there'd be no dip. In either case, the current dies don't have the capability so it would be a while (years) before something like that would be into production.

 

[Apex Wheels]

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Paging Mustang owners in the Bay area! If you're interested in free professional photos of your car on brand new APEX wheels, we are looking for volunteers for test fitting and photoshoots! Volunteers will get copies of the photos, a discount on a set of APEX wheels, and APEX goodies/swag. If you're interested in volunteering, please email us at [email protected] with your contact information, location, and a photo of your car. All are welcome. Show us what you've got! If you'd like to take an inside look at what these photoshoots involve, our good friend Blake made a video detailing the process of an 18" test fitment on his F82 M4 recently.

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[Bill Pemberton]

I wanted to jump in here and qualify something , because I am fairly certain Forgeline ( another quality Sponsor on TMO ) can make a rim for the GT 350 in an 18 inch size, but there is one caveat the consumer must be made aware of! This issue is that clearance is super , super tight, and if you get a rock or other debris lodged it could score the barrel. We ( Woodhouse Dodge ) did plenty of custom rims with Forgeline ( great to work with ) for Viper ACRs ( Gen 5s). This car came with 19 inch fronts that also needed to run a special Kumho Tire and folks wanted more availability - an 18 inch wheel would be the cure. We told our customers the distance between the barrel and the caliper was quite close and things could get lodged between them, scoring the barrel or even catching fire if lodged ( other peoples rubber ). I have a good idea this is the same concern with the GT 350, but the best answer would be to contact Forgeline.

Note, this concern is apparent with many wheels , even those that say they will fit on your car, and this is one of the main reasons so many of us are using Apex wheels. For those of us that have had scored barrels in the past you will appreciate the degree Apex goes to allow plenty of room. This is one benefit derived from buying from them and more distance between the brake system and the wheel also means better circulation of air. So, in essence, the benefit is two-fold , and if you add that it also makes the wheel easier to fit around the caliper when mounting, you could have an argument there are benefits in triple.

Some of the wheels that came out for the new S550 and GT 350 Mustangs showed they only fit the rear , and this was due to the larger brake rotors/calipers on the GT 350s and upgraded brake options on the GT. Folks wondered about this concern and there were TrackRats who found out about Apex back then and that they could fit a squared system all the way around ---- there are other reasons folks on here have been pretty darn loyal to Apex. The new rim design on their Forged Wheel is quite exciting , since more air flow and more room in the barrel has numerous benefits as noted before. At Thanksgiving , I am sure many of us want to give Apex a round of applause for taking aware many of the concerns of tire/wheel/brake system fitment! Bravo !!

 

[Tonymustang302]

Are you sure? There’s a gent at COTA who runs a custom set from Forgeline. There’s also a local wheel company down here (name is escaping me) that will do it. Both have fairly high prices at north of $6.5k. But they’d sell like hot cakes at a lower cost I think. All of us hate running 19in tires

I can imagine the marring if something gets caught.

 

[honeybadger]

I can imagine the marring if something gets caught.

Meh. Race car.

Either way, the new wheels look sick @APEXRaceParts!

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Brought up the point about the issue of track debris getting caught between the barrel and the caliper as scoring the barrel would bother some, but it can be more severe or bothersome. Have seriously seen wheels on fire from rubber debris and pulling into the pits to get extinguished. There are other concerns that may seem minor , but simple chores like fitting the wheel at that close of clearance is a huge pain.

I was drawn to Apex years back since caliper and brake rotor clearance are part of their " Mantra " for air flow, fitment as well as keeping debris from lodging in the wheel. I had a bad vibration on the right front wheel ( 2012 street legal Boss 302 ) years back and I thought I had something seriously broken since the ABS was also acting up ----hub was fine, but the wheel was gouged badly and the rock was still stuck in between it and the caliper. It was not an Apex rim ( or a Forgeline ) but it cured me of wanting to try and make something fit instead of getting something designed with ample clearance.

Just my opinion, because unlike some of the brilliant technical minds and talents on here I am just a studious observer.When Woodhouse Auto Family had a Motorsports Division I would make suggestions to customers I sold on things they might want to do, but in helping sell mods I would only recommend things I knew worked and worked well. You do not want folks coming back complaining about what you advised them on, so I observed what not only worked but what seemed to be the most trouble free. Complaints of wheels that caused issues above were common on the Forum I frequented , as well as the races I competed in, so I still suggest quality fitment to make life easier at the track.

I applaud Apex and I am sure many on here are quite impressed with the design and thought that went into their newly designed forged wheels. This is not a knock on Forgeline as I like their product quite well too ( have had them on some of my cars ), but I am not a fan of almost zero clearance due to issues I've noticed over the years. Watching a video of a special style of wheel and the extent of what Apex did to solve many racers concerns I am quite blown away. Sorry , as usual , I am not adept at short answers like many who are much better at it, so I will stop rambling on as usual.

By the way Forgeline always advised us about possible clearance issues , but they will build what the customer desires and we passed on their concerns prior to a custom build.


Hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend?!

 

[Tractor Junk]

I’m very interested in feedback from the crowd. I’ve been converting my car to run in 200TW time trial races (primarily SCCA M1), along with NASA TT (Hoosiers). There isn’t an exact direct overlap, but enough that it’s workable.

Apex offers a square18x11 figment and 18x12. I’ve already got AP brakes front/rear, long wheel studs, lots of camber etc. What is the preferred setup to order? Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Apex has a representative link right on their Sponsor site. Cory is pretty darn good getting back with folks, and making sure things fit to the customer's specs is a high priority. Sure you will need ARP long studs, and a spacer up front, but if you are running at speed in NASA or SCCA, those are not just for fitment , most of us see them as an additional safety factor ( ARP Studs ). Send Cory a PM and you will also get quite a few comments from those who have GT 350s. Hopefully BlackBoss will see your note and respond to your question, he has done some amazing things with his GT350 and GT500.

 

[Apex Wheels]

I’m very interested in feedback from the crowd. I’ve been converting my car to run in 200TW time trial races (primarily SCCA M1), along with NASA TT (Hoosiers). There isn’t an exact direct overlap, but enough that it’s workable.

Apex offers a square18x11 figment and 18x12. I’ve already got AP brakes front/rear, long wheel studs, lots of camber etc. What is the preferred setup to order? Thoughts?

Thanks!

I wanted to come out with the 18x12 option for people who are wanting to maximize the performance of these latest 315/30-18 tires that run extremely wide for their size. It wasn't meant to run wider sized tires, such as 335, as that really starts to push the limits of the rear fenders and is pretty much not happening under the stock fenders except for max effort GT350/GT500 examples.

The 18x12" properly supports many of the hot 315s like the Yokohama A052 and Falken RT660. You are left with much more contact patch compared to the same tire on an 11" wheel. More spacer is required up front, and spacers may be required in the rear on some cars depending on their exact suspension setups. We chose an offset that gets it close, and the rest is up to the end user to dial it in to their specific vehicle. Tolerances are just too tight with 12" wheels on Mustangs for it to be one size fits all.

The 18x11" ET52 square setup (or 19x11" ET52) has been and pretty much always will be the easy track fitment for these cars, so the choice between them is wether or not you want to put in the extra effort and live with the compromises of the 12" wheels.

 

[Tractor Junk]

Apex- Fantastic info, thank you for the clarifications.

-Spencer

 

[Apex Wheels]

As we kick off the last four weeks of this Group Buy, we wanted to touch base to let you know that our first wave of production is right on schedule. This means we are currently on track to fulfill your orders in the timeframe outlined on the fitment table under the overview tab. Things could always change, but everything is looking better than expected currently.

As a reminder, if you have only expressed interest and have not pledged, you're not officially a part of the deal to receive wheels. With nearly 400 members interested, some popular fitments and finishes will sell out in the first production run. We’ve already placed a restock order and it should be here pretty quickly, but we have not decided if we will cancel backorders or if we will allow late participants to get the discount and receive wheels from the second shipment. Be sure to come back and submit your pledge to lock in your order now to avoid the rush that always happens in the final week.

Technical Note
As a group of track enthusiasts and racers, we understand how frustrating it can be to bend a wheel in pursuit of a PB or podium finish. Whether you find yourself 4 wheels off track on a safari excursion or creating your own driving line jumping treacherous berms, wheels are put through a tremendous amount of stress and abuse in the process – sometimes simply being forged isn’t enough to avoid bends.

To mitigate this, our engineers made a concerted effort to reinforce the inner lip of these motorsport wheels and created our stronger, Sprint™ Spec inner lip design. If you haven’t already, we recommend you read our technical writeup on our Sprint™ Spec inner lip.

Blog: MEET THE STRONGER, APEX SPRINT™ SPEC INNER LIP

 

[Apex Wheels]

When Function Meets Form​

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As wheel specialists we understand that, when it comes to reducing weight and increasing stiffness in wheel spokes, there is a big difference between functional and aesthetic side milling. Instead of milling a few negligible millimeters of depth just to look cool, our engineers optimized our new motorsport blanks to create narrower yet significantly deeper spokes, with deeper side milling that is nearly 50mm wide on some wheels. The result is a stiffer “I” beam-spoke shape that also showcases a stunning aesthetic. If you haven't already, we recommend you read our technical write-up on our deeper and wider side-milling.

Blog: HOW DEEPER AND WIDER SIDE-MILLING MAKES WHEELS LIGHTER

 

[Apex Wheels]

Wow, we’re closing in on 200 pledged and 400+ interested. Thank you to everyone who signed up and made this deal a success. For those who haven’t submitted their official pledge yet, please be sure to do so soon, or you’ll be at risk of your preferred design or color running out. Here are some lovely photos for viewing pleasure:









Technical Note

As racers and automotive enthusiasts, we understand that safety is a top priority when modifying your car. In the United States, there are no testing requirements when it comes to producing wheels, leaving the industry entirely unregulated. Unfortunately, this opens the door to shortcuts and cheating by unscrupulous manufacturers.

Here at APEX, we conduct extensive and expensive safety testing to ensure our wheels are safe, and results are independently validated by a 3rd party. To find out more about our testing process, and why we chose Standard Testing Labs, based in Ohio, be sure to read our technical write-up linked below.

Blog: TESTING TO A HIGHER STANDARD

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Ya gotta love both the car and the wheels ----- Italian Stallion with new shoes!!!