Background
I have been eyeing the ML-10RTs ever since Apex first announced them back in May 2024. I kept going back and forth between these and the VS-5RS, which is another beautiful wheel in my opinion. But after having tried so many different sets of wheels between my current and former Z’s, I decided to go with a more ‘classic’ look this time around so I pulled the trigger on the ML’s.
Color and Diameter
I've always been a fan of gold and bronze wheels and seeing this E46 M3 reaffirmed gold wheels can certainly work with IR. However, I wasn't sure if the color would clash with my yellow calipers so I decided I'd let someone else be the guinea pig. Of the 3 remaining finishes, I ruled out Anthracite because my prior SSR's had that same finish. So I went with classic Race Silver - not only was it cheaper than Brushed Clear but it also matches the machined lip (more on this below).
As for diameter, this was really tough. I went through Apex's gallery countless times to see which car best correlated with my Imola Red coupe. On some cars, 18s look perfect whereas on some other models, they look a tad small. Visually, I don't think there's of a risk of going 'too big' but tire budget is a real constraint since this is a track only setup, and the price differential between 18 and 19" for sticky 200TW is not insignificant. But after comparing multiple photos, I concluded most of difference in visual effect comes down to wheel finish & stance. In general, two-tone wheels look smaller due to the contrast between lip and barrel. And the lower the stance, the bigger the wheels appear (duh!). And so my hope was by going with Race Silver, 18s would still look the part on my lowered coupe while providing the benefits of lower weight & cheaper running costs.
Width and Offset
In terms of width & offset, I went with an atypical configuration of of 18x9.5 et35 (F) and 18x9.5 et22 (R). The difference in offsets is to allow for as much of a spacer-less setup as possible. That said, the fronts still required a 5-7mm spacer to avoid rubbing against my coilovers. This could be avoided if I stepped down to a 245 tire. Note by going with staggered offsets, I am unable to rotate wheels front to back, but that was a known concession as I never get full tread life out of track tires. Rather I just swap left to right to help even out any shoulder wear.
Initial Impressions
I am absolutely blown away by the attention to detail. I wish I had taken photos during the initial unboxing but the Race Silver finish is absolutely perfect. From laser engraving specs (good for someone running odd fitments like me haha) to side milled spokes, it's crazy how much they packed into this wheel design. Other small things that I appreciate are the oversized lugholes. As much as I love JDM wheels, both my Volks and SSR had the tiniest lug holes. I would have to remove the plastic sleeve from my thin-walled 17mm socket, and even then I somehow managed to scratch recessed areas. That is not the case with the Apex wheels. I can mount/swap rims quickly with standard hardware & tools without having to worry about ruining the finish.
Additionally, though my car is now way past "OEM plus", I like how Apex wheels from the beginning have always accepted factory center caps. However, one thing to note is that if you're using floating center caps, chances are they may not fit in the front with a lower than factory offset. The back of those caps will bottom out so you'll need to run standard flat caps. But to be clear, this is not a flaw with Apex wheels and would be the case for any non-factory fitment wheel. And lastly, these wheels offer a decent amount of inner clearance. Not that I am running any crazy large 6 or 8 piston caliper but the spoke design was very much intentional. I had no issues clearing my 996 Brembos with OEM Z4M / ZCP rotors.
Driving Impressions
This is a bit hard to gauge but I will say the wheel weights are just as described at 20lbs. Are they the lightest setup out there? No, which is why these fall under Apex Touring line as opposed to their Sprint line. But I'll be honest, I could not tell a difference between these and my SSR's which weighed around 18.5lbs. More importantly, lap times were no worse and I had no reservations hitting the curbs on track with these wheels.
Pro tip: Do spend the time to ceramic coat the wheels. With any multi-spoke design, cleaning these wheels will be more involved but I was shocked to see how most of the Hawk DTC-60 brake dust just came right off! See video below:
https://imgur.com/a/tnRJY1H
Final Thoughts
I've run Apex ARC-8, Volk RE-30, SSR Type C, OE Style 32 and probably 5 other models I am forgetting but I would honestly place these on the top 3 of my list. I can't think of any other wheel that checks all the boxes in terms of quality, fit, and value. Some may hate on the fact these are BBS E88 replicas. However, the word 'replica' has a negative connotation where one associates a remake as a cheap and inferior copy of the original. I don't view that to be the case here. I think Apex was very upfront that the core design was inspired by the classic E88, upon which they layered their own tweaks and improvements — I totally am fine with that. To me, while I see some overlapping traits, the end results are two visually distinct wheels.
Special thanks to Tommys911 for the money shots below.
I have been eyeing the ML-10RTs ever since Apex first announced them back in May 2024. I kept going back and forth between these and the VS-5RS, which is another beautiful wheel in my opinion. But after having tried so many different sets of wheels between my current and former Z’s, I decided to go with a more ‘classic’ look this time around so I pulled the trigger on the ML’s.
Color and Diameter
I've always been a fan of gold and bronze wheels and seeing this E46 M3 reaffirmed gold wheels can certainly work with IR. However, I wasn't sure if the color would clash with my yellow calipers so I decided I'd let someone else be the guinea pig. Of the 3 remaining finishes, I ruled out Anthracite because my prior SSR's had that same finish. So I went with classic Race Silver - not only was it cheaper than Brushed Clear but it also matches the machined lip (more on this below).
As for diameter, this was really tough. I went through Apex's gallery countless times to see which car best correlated with my Imola Red coupe. On some cars, 18s look perfect whereas on some other models, they look a tad small. Visually, I don't think there's of a risk of going 'too big' but tire budget is a real constraint since this is a track only setup, and the price differential between 18 and 19" for sticky 200TW is not insignificant. But after comparing multiple photos, I concluded most of difference in visual effect comes down to wheel finish & stance. In general, two-tone wheels look smaller due to the contrast between lip and barrel. And the lower the stance, the bigger the wheels appear (duh!). And so my hope was by going with Race Silver, 18s would still look the part on my lowered coupe while providing the benefits of lower weight & cheaper running costs.
Width and Offset
In terms of width & offset, I went with an atypical configuration of of 18x9.5 et35 (F) and 18x9.5 et22 (R). The difference in offsets is to allow for as much of a spacer-less setup as possible. That said, the fronts still required a 5-7mm spacer to avoid rubbing against my coilovers. This could be avoided if I stepped down to a 245 tire. Note by going with staggered offsets, I am unable to rotate wheels front to back, but that was a known concession as I never get full tread life out of track tires. Rather I just swap left to right to help even out any shoulder wear.
Initial Impressions
I am absolutely blown away by the attention to detail. I wish I had taken photos during the initial unboxing but the Race Silver finish is absolutely perfect. From laser engraving specs (good for someone running odd fitments like me haha) to side milled spokes, it's crazy how much they packed into this wheel design. Other small things that I appreciate are the oversized lugholes. As much as I love JDM wheels, both my Volks and SSR had the tiniest lug holes. I would have to remove the plastic sleeve from my thin-walled 17mm socket, and even then I somehow managed to scratch recessed areas. That is not the case with the Apex wheels. I can mount/swap rims quickly with standard hardware & tools without having to worry about ruining the finish.
Additionally, though my car is now way past "OEM plus", I like how Apex wheels from the beginning have always accepted factory center caps. However, one thing to note is that if you're using floating center caps, chances are they may not fit in the front with a lower than factory offset. The back of those caps will bottom out so you'll need to run standard flat caps. But to be clear, this is not a flaw with Apex wheels and would be the case for any non-factory fitment wheel. And lastly, these wheels offer a decent amount of inner clearance. Not that I am running any crazy large 6 or 8 piston caliper but the spoke design was very much intentional. I had no issues clearing my 996 Brembos with OEM Z4M / ZCP rotors.
Driving Impressions
This is a bit hard to gauge but I will say the wheel weights are just as described at 20lbs. Are they the lightest setup out there? No, which is why these fall under Apex Touring line as opposed to their Sprint line. But I'll be honest, I could not tell a difference between these and my SSR's which weighed around 18.5lbs. More importantly, lap times were no worse and I had no reservations hitting the curbs on track with these wheels.
Pro tip: Do spend the time to ceramic coat the wheels. With any multi-spoke design, cleaning these wheels will be more involved but I was shocked to see how most of the Hawk DTC-60 brake dust just came right off! See video below:
https://imgur.com/a/tnRJY1H
Final Thoughts
I've run Apex ARC-8, Volk RE-30, SSR Type C, OE Style 32 and probably 5 other models I am forgetting but I would honestly place these on the top 3 of my list. I can't think of any other wheel that checks all the boxes in terms of quality, fit, and value. Some may hate on the fact these are BBS E88 replicas. However, the word 'replica' has a negative connotation where one associates a remake as a cheap and inferior copy of the original. I don't view that to be the case here. I think Apex was very upfront that the core design was inspired by the classic E88, upon which they layered their own tweaks and improvements — I totally am fine with that. To me, while I see some overlapping traits, the end results are two visually distinct wheels.
Special thanks to Tommys911 for the money shots below.
