Apex VS5-RS wheels, not a good fit for Michelin PS4S tires???

[StingertimeNC]

So I've been struggling with the new Apex wheels. Had the shop switch over the OEM tires and three of them are fine, but one wheel is having an issue. According to Apex, Michelin tires are not a good fit because of the knurling on the bead seat area of the Apex rim. Michelin has a more narrow and or shallow bead design that doesn't always create a good seal against the rim. The options are, add bead sealent to the tire/rim in an effort to create a better seal, or get a different tire brand.

I did some searching and discovered folks on BMW and Porsche forums having the same issue with these specific rims. I actually had a spare PS4S tire and swapped it onto the wheel and same thing. There were a couple reports of folks losing air pressure in a wheel or two or three, while at the track even. Not something I want to experience. I also want to have complete confidence in the car when at the track, so using bead sealent and just hoping it's going to be fine doesn't sit well.

Sadly, since I purchased these rims from another forum member, the wheel replacement warranty no longer applies. Only the first owner gets the benefit. Apex hasn't definitively said they will not help me in any way, they just want me to try all the options first. Honestly not sure how they could help other than replacing the offending wheel just to see if that helps, but since there's no warranty at this point I suspect it will be a wheel replacement on my dime, which is no guarantee of success anyway.

Had I known this to be a potential issue, I wouldn't have purchased these rims. I also will not pruchase rims, with knurling in the bead seat area, in the future. Not worth it, especially since I'm not racing the car. Track days yes, but racing, no.

I have Continental Sport Contact's on the way. I've been wanting to go to a 275 x 30 tire, so this is as good an excuse as any to give it a shot. If this fails, I will go a different direction for wheels.

So currently I have three OEM rims (sold two of the five I originally had) and I'm about to have a set of Michelin PS4S tires for sale with 2.4k miles on them.

Fingers crossed the Continentals do the job. What a hassle.

Rims are nice as hell, and apparently this issue doesn't affect everyone, some, or even lots of folks, have had success with Michelin tires on their Apex VS5-RS wheels, but it's a known fact that people have had problems.

I'm not here to bash Apex, they seem like a solid company with good product, but not having a 100% success rate with Michelin performance tires, like the PS4S, or Sport Cup 2's etc. is very unfortunate, and it limits our tire options quite a bit depending on what size you want to run.

Just wanted folks to know before the take the plunge.

I'll report back after the new tires are installed.


TLDR- Do some research before buying Apex VS5-RS wheels, if you plan to use Michelin tires, they may not be a good match. Apparently these wheels are fine with other tire brands.

 

[ForeverCar]

Thanks for sharing! I totally would have fallen into this same situation as it is not a factor that I would have considered prior to learning from your experience.

 

[CatBus]

Oh man. Now I feel bad about buying your OEM rim. You could have put those back on with the Michelins for the time being.

 

[ZeroGSR]

I have the same setup, one rim wouldn't hold air, so they pulled the tire, cleaned it and reseated it. Has held pressure at stock and 40psi+ like a champ since. Does make me worried about getting some 285s to seat properly though...

 

[Croissants]

So I've been struggling with the new Apex wheels. Had the shop switch over the OEM tires and three of them are fine, but one wheel is having an issue. According to Apex, Michelin tires are not a good fit because of the knurling on the bead seat area of the Apex rim. Michelin has a more narrow and or shallow bead design that doesn't always create a good seal against the rim. The options are, add bead sealent to the tire/rim in an effort to create a better seal, or get a different tire brand.

I did some searching and discovered folks on BMW and Porsche forums having the same issue with these specific rims. I actually had a spare PS4S tire and swapped it onto the wheel and same thing. There were a couple reports of folks losing air pressure in a wheel or two or three, while at the track even. Not something I want to experience. I also want to have complete confidence in the car when at the track, so using bead sealent and just hoping it's going to be fine doesn't sit well.

Sadly, since I purchased these rims from another forum member, the wheel replacement warranty no longer applies. Only the first owner gets the benefit. Apex hasn't definitively said they will not help me in any way, they just want me to try all the options first. Honestly not sure how they could help other than replacing the offending wheel just to see if that helps, but since there's no warranty at this point I suspect it will be a wheel replacement on my dime, which is no guarantee of success anyway.

Had I known this to be a potential issue, I wouldn't have purchased these rims. I also will not pruchase rims, with knurling in the bead seat area, in the future. Not worth it, especially since I'm not racing the car. Track days yes, but racing, no.

I have Continental Sport Contact's on the way. I've been wanting to go to a 275 x 30 tire, so this is as good an excuse as any to give it a shot. If this fails, I will go a different direction for wheels.

So currently I have three OEM rims (sold two of the five I originally had) and I'm about to have a set of Michelin PS4S tires for sale with 2.4k miles on them.

Fingers crossed the Continentals do the job. What a hassle.

Rims are nice as hell, and apparently this issue doesn't affect everyone, some, or even lots of folks, have had success with Michelin tires on their Apex VS5-RS wheels, but it's a known fact that people have had problems.

I'm not here to bash Apex, they seem like a solid company with good product, but not having a 100% success rate with Michelin performance tires, like the PS4S, or Sport Cup 2's etc. is very unfortunate, and it limits our tire options quite a bit depending on what size you want to run.

Just wanted folks to know before the take the plunge.

I'll report back after the new tires are installed.


TLDR- Do some research before buying Apex VS5-RS wheels, if you plan to use Michelin tires, they may not be a good match. Apparently these wheels are fine with other tire brands.

Sorry that you had to deal with beading issues with your Apex wheels. On a similar note I have a friend who had trouble with one Titan7 TS-5 holding air on a PS4s: also because of the knurled bead seat. It doesn't happen to every wheel but sounds like this happens frequently enough with Michelins

 

[StingertimeNC]

I have the same setup, one rim wouldn't hold air, so they pulled the tire, cleaned it and reseated it. Has held pressure at stock and 40psi+ like a champ since. Does make me worried about getting some 285s to seat properly though...

We tried that. two different tires and still no luck. Currently have 45 psi in the tire and it's holding for the last day. it's the whole trust thing though. knowing the bead is kinda small on the michelin is a bit unsettling.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Sorry that you had to deal with beading issues with your Apex wheels. On a similar note I have a friend who had trouble with one Titan7 TS-5 holding air on a PS4s: also because of the knurled bead seat. It doesn't happen to every wheel but sounds like this happens frequently enough with Michelins

I was looking at Titan7 too. Craziness.

 

[Tw1stedlog1k]

I remember reading about this issue on the M2 forums some time ago. The general response was to air the tire up to max and leave it unmounted for a little bit before airing it back down to normal specs as you've mentioned above. Once it does seat it shouldn't be an issue any further but when it comes time for a tire change you may run into the same issue again if sticking with the ps4s...

 

[vexingv]

is it all Michelin tires in general? or just the Pilot Sport 4S? i'm looking to downsize to 18s and use Pilot Sport All Season+ at some point down the line...

 

[StingertimeNC]

I would do more research. It seams PS4S and sport cup 2's may have a similar design, and same problem, just from reading on the Porsche forum that came up in my search.

 

[StingertimeNC]

I remember reading about this issue on the M2 forums some time ago. The general response was to air the tire up to max and leave it unmounted for a little bit before airing it back down to normal specs as you've mentioned above. Once it does seat it shouldn't be an issue any further but when it comes time for a tire change you may run into the same issue again if sticking with the ps4s...

Yep, I have it aired up to 45 PSI, for the last day and it's holding (with it on the car) I think I'll drop it today and see what happens.

 

[optronix]

Interesting. What a pain in the ass lol.

I was moderately interested in Apex, I especially like them in the brushed clear... but probably not now. Any "advantage" to having this "knurled bead"? Do Volks have the same issue?

 

[StingertimeNC]

The advantage is the tire shouldn't spin around the rim itself during hard braking or acceleration.

I'm thinking not something I would ever notice as you probablky need super high horsepower/torque to realize this benefit.

I was thinking the same thing...Do Volks have these issues?? So darn expensive though.,

 

[GTO]

I've been running Apex VS-5RS with Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 265/35-ZR18 on the ITS since October 2023 without issue. No loss in pressure or anything odd to report.

My BRZ currently has Apex EC-7R wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ tires which were swapped over from Apex ARC-8 wheels. Never experienced any problem while on the ARC-8s but after the swap, one tire was slowly losing pressure.

However, that was due to the valve stem and core that were not tightened enough on the one wheel which was an oversight at the shop. Since I tightened them up, no problems at all and that was a few years ago.

Having bought three sets of wheels from Apex, I'm obviously a fan of the product. I find them to be reasonably priced and excellent quality but I don't track my cars.

You might want to try torquing the valve stem to 8 Nm and tightening up the valve core with this $6 tool from your local Walmart. Hopefully it's an easy fix.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Thanks for posting on your experience. Will definitely help others.
We did try the core and the stem stuff. Spraying soapy water reveals the bead seat as the culprit.
I thought I was good with the second tire, but after about a week I lost 10lbs of air overnight. Threw some soapy water on and sure enough, same issue.