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The mesh design is not only classic, but is also very similar to one of my favorite BMW wheels of yesteryear—the BBS RC, only at a fraction of the cost. The mesh design is also well-regarded for its durability on track while keeping the weight low.
Wide enough to make 245s look skinny, the spoke design and barrel of the 18” x 9″ wheels offer enough clearance to potentially fit up to a 380mm big-brake kit regardless of wheel width, and the 17” versions still allow for up to 355mm kits in most situations.
Designed specifically with particular BMW fitments in mind, bolting them up requires no special hardware, but many owners run spacers and studs for clearance with coilovers and/or to fit wider rubber up front.The only decision I had to make was on color. I generally prefer plain, silver wheels, so Hyper Silver was going to be my choice again, but I made the mistake of looking online for photos of black M3s with Arc-8 wheels, and my mind was made up; Hyper Black was the only choice.
The wheels arrived quickly, and one the joys of working from a home office is that you get to hear the UPS truck pull up—the sound of that big brown truck’s horn always turns me into an 8-year old. Even my wife and son get excited when car parts arrive, so they rushed out to the garage with me to start opening boxes. My wife never got a chance to feel the weight of my original Arc-8 set without tires, so I asked her to hold one of the boxes. Needless to say, she was shocked at how light they were, even with being double-boxed for shipping.
Thanks to the flow form manufacturing process used by APEX, you can have a very nice looking wheel with an incredibly strong design, affordability AND light weight. Color me impressed when an 18” x 9” wheel comes in at just 18.5 pounds (18.65 according the APEX site), and still looks good. That’s about a 6-pound savings per corner!While I wouldn't call them inexpensive, they're certainly affordable when you consider that an equal wheel from a much larger company could easily be double the price. With that cost savings in mind, you can’t help but open each box and expect to find some sort of imperfection, but it’s simply not the case. APEX is obviously very tight with their quality control.
For those like me, who like to maintain a somewhat OE (original equipment) appearance, the factory Roundel wheel caps we picked up from Bavarian Autosport work just as well on the Arc-8s as they do on our 17” OE wheels.
