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[Amirsm3]

Originally Posted by dparm

For the love of God, no obnoxious colors. Leave that shit for the "stance" idiots.

What, you don't enjoy STI's "scraping frame, brah"?

[1MOREMOD]

Looks like track car use not regular Starbucks doucher.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by Amirsm3

What, you don't enjoy STI's "scraping frame, brah"?

I do not enjoy those, no.

[Amirsm3]

Originally Posted by dparm

I do not enjoy those, no.

#bagsarentforgroceries #cannibeat #fatlace #illest #stancenation #stancemakesherdance

None of those entice you, huh?

I seriously hate stanced performance cars

[roastbeef]

what came of this color vote?

[MMMCOOKIES55]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

what came of this color vote?

+1...

[Jack14]

Matte Bronze because mine aren't matte or bronze enough.

[KRZ3]

If you make them approved on European roads, I would order 2x4 wheels immediately in current colors.

[tlp]

How about two tone? These were my gloss black powder coated EC7's. They were powdered directly over the the original paint which lead to bubbling and peeling after a couple of heat cycles. The first wheel that peeled was matte black underneath which I could live with at the time. Then the second wheel peeled and I got bonus color of white gold which I have never seen before. No wonder Apex sold the wheels "as is". Amazing that Apex didn't prep the wheel properly before having them powder coated.

[e46e92love]

^^LOL

[Eddy@ApexWheels]

Originally Posted by tlp

How about two tone? These were my gloss black powder coated EC7's. They were powdered directly over the the original paint which lead to bubbling and peeling after a couple of heat cycles. The first wheel that peeled was matte black underneath which I could live with at the time. Then the second wheel peeled and I got bonus color of white gold which I have never seen before. No wonder Apex sold the wheels "as is". Amazing that Apex didn't prep the wheel properly before having them powder coated.

I just discovered this.

That's ridiculous that the shop we used to powder-coated those wheels did not strip the original coating (which they were paid to do).

I remember this set. It's the one set in the companies history we ever had powder-coated for a client. We did multiple sets for the Bimmerworld team in prep for the 25 hours of Thunderhill a few years ago. We powder-coated 18x10's for them and last minute it was determined they could not clear their suspension with slicks at a 10" width, and they were forced to run other wheels in a 9.5" width. They were only sold as-is because they were one-offs we couldn't support with further stock (no way to warranty minor finish blems).

I'll bring this situation to Ryan's attention. We sell any item as "as-is" that's used or not normal stock, but we never would have even sold them in the first place had we known they were coated this way.

Expect an email/pm/or call from someone on our team with a resolution for this. We'll get you taken care of. You don't deserve getting the short end of the stick.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by Eddy@ApexRaceParts

I just discovered this.

That's ridiculous that the shop we used to powder-coated those wheels did not strip the original coating (which they were paid to do).

I remember this set. It's the one set in the companies history we ever had powder-coated for a client. We did multiple sets for the Bimmerworld team in prep for the 25 hours of Thunderhill a few years ago. We powder-coated 18x10's for them and last minute it was determined they could not clear their suspension with slicks at a 10" width, and they were forced to run other wheels in a 9.5" width. They were only sold as-is because they were one-offs we couldn't support with further stock (no way to warranty minor finish blems).

I'll bring this situation to Ryan's attention. We sell any item as "as-is" that's used or not normal stock, but we never would have even sold them in the first place had we known they were coated this way.

Expect an email/pm/or call from someone on our team with a resolution for this. We'll get you taken care of. You don't deserve getting the short end of the stick.

thats customer service right there folks.

[tlp]

Spoke to Apex. They are taking care of the situation. They really stand behind their product and it shows. I highly recommend them.

THANKS APEX!!!

[CHE///MIST3]

Originally Posted by Jack14

Matte Bronze because mine aren't matte or bronze enough.

These look great! Do you have any photos of them mounted up?

GM

[Jack14]

Originally Posted by GMCHEM83

These look great! Do you have any photos of them mounted up?

GM

Thanks! Haven't mounted them yet. Ill get pics when I do.

[vincE92M3]

I think matte/textured silver on the EC-7 would be DOPE!

[rdoctor]

Originally Posted by Jack14

Matte Bronze because mine aren't matte or bronze enough.

These look great! I would definitely rock these on my JB e92.

[z3papa]

I'm getting some EC7's powder coated in P7 Glimmer which is essentially a version of gun metal. I don't this would warrant another color as it is intentionally close to anthracite but will post pictures.

[MilehighM3]

How about a more robust finish? The finish on every set I've seen is seriously thin paint like finish. Powdercoat would be much better and able to withstand the abuse of track use. A single pit ends up turning to a huge chunk flaking off if you get remotely close with a pressure washer.
Btw I voted for Matte bronze, although I welcome gloss as well, gloss hyper black and gloss black. The matte black looks like a primer finish IMO

[Expert@ApexWheels]

Originally Posted by MilehighM3

How about a more robust finish? The finish on every set I've seen is seriously thin paint like finish. Powdercoat would be much better and able to withstand the abuse of track use. A single pit ends up turning to a huge chunk flaking off if you get remotely close with a pressure washer.
Btw I voted for Matte bronze, although I welcome gloss as well, gloss hyper black and gloss black. The matte black looks like a primer finish IMO

Thank you for your feedback. We haven't really heard negative reports regarding the paint finish being thin or flaking from track users. We've noted your concerns to see if there's a trend. Paint damage can definitely happen as there's no controlling the speed/size of impacts from rocks and other debris. We use a painted finish because of the numerous negatives that come with powder coating, such as metal aging caused by high baking temperatures. We have not found powder coating to be more robust from our testing.

[MilehighM3]

I appreciate the comments, but look at every used set for sale and you'll see what I mean, the paint is flaking off. Regarding the aging of the wheels, factory wheels and every quality aftermarket wheel I've ever seen are powder coated. If powdercoating the wheels damages them or shortens their life span, then I would venture a guess that you need to do some metallurgy. I like your wheels for their cost and function, but saying powdercoating damages them sounds more like a reason to be cheap. I for one have owned 3 sets and they all ended up the same after 4-5 track days. Stay away with the pressure washer. I'd be more interested in a higher price point for powdercoating, or a cheaper one and I'll use my own local coater and know I'm getting a finish I want and the quality that I'm after.
Cheers
Milehigh

[Eddy@ApexWheels]

Originally Posted by MilehighM3

I appreciate the comments, but look at every used set for sale and you'll see what I mean, the paint is flaking off. Regarding the aging of the wheels, factory wheels and every quality aftermarket wheel I've ever seen are powder coated. If powdercoating the wheels damages them or shortens their life span, then I would venture a guess that you need to do some metallurgy. I like your wheels for their cost and function, but saying powdercoating damages them sounds more like a reason to be cheap. I for one have owned 3 sets and they all ended up the same after 4-5 track days. Stay away with the pressure washer. I'd be more interested in a higher price point for powdercoating, or a cheaper one and I'll use my own local coater and know I'm getting a finish I want and the quality that I'm after.
Cheers
Milehigh

Thanks for the feedback,

We take your comments seriously and we are always trying to improve our products and services. You were provided a brief answer previously, so I'm happy to extrapolate.

Let me get into more detail about powder coating. Yes, we could powder coat. It's a little more expensive, not not by much, and we considered doing it. Is it the be-all end-all solution? No. We can do it without causing any structural issues. We simply have to adjust time in the heat treatment process. There are some other down sides to going with powder, but let me explain the main reason why we passed.

If a painted wheel fails Quality Control because of a paint blemish it can be stripped and recoated without issue. If a powder coated wheel fails QC, the wheel is striped, recoated, and rebaked which ages the metal as the oven time mimics the heat treatment process. It's that second or even third pass in the oven that no one knows or talks about. What customers don't know is that some of the wheels in their powder coated set have been through the oven more than their other wheels. Software stress simulation and real world crush tests are done with sample wheels that are coated once.

Our wheels are optimized for light weight. We know extra oven time alters the wheel, and we didn't want any extra stresses added to random wheels.

I'm familiar with the manufacturers that make OEM wheels and how they're made. I don't believe it's a fair statement to claim that most have a powder coated finish. The same goes for quality aftermarket wheels, with the exception of manufacturers that make one-off wheels as they powder coated out of necessity due to scale constraints. A quick search to find public evidence to backup my claims resulted in finding almost no large manufacturer that even disclosed their finish process (besides the custom forged manufacturers as mentioned previously).

I understand you are frustrated by what you experienced when power washing your track sets. The track can abuse wheels, and rock chips can lead to flaking if you blast the finish. That very abuse is why people prefer a lower cost option like our wheels, so they can be comfortable beating them up.

I'm sure many used sets have paint issues. I can't speak to the conditions they were put through as we're a very popular track/race wheel. I know that paint finish issues only are only a small fraction of the warranties claims we receive. All combined; warranties, unwanted returns, fulfillment errors, and shipping damaged is approximately 1% of total sales.

I appreciate you disclosing that you'd be willing to pay more for a superior finish. We'll look into researching this more to see how big of an issue it is for others, and if enough customers feel the same to warrant a price change.

Thanks,

-Eddy P

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE

After receiving over 600+ survey submissions we produced a sample of the top 3 finishes requested in the most popular design requested (ARC-8).

A Group Buy has been created to make these a reality. Because this is just a color change, only a small group of participants per size/finish are needed to reach production minimums.

Checkout the Group Buy HERE

The top 3 colors requested are:

• Matte Anthracite
• Matte Bronze
• Gloss Gold

Click HERE for a full Flickr high res gallery

Matte Anthracite - In shade


Bronze - In shade


Gold - In shade


Old vs. New in shade (Top: Hyper Silver, Hyper Black, Anthracite, Satin Black. Bottom: Satin Bronze, Gold, Matte Anthracite)


Old vs. New in sun (Top: Hyper Silver, Hyper Black, Anthracite, Satin Black. Bottom: Satin Bronze, Gold, Matte Anthracite)