Building a Custom Two Piece Wheel
How it's done
Here is a catalog of pictures showing how a custom two piece wheel is built. American Racing is a leader in the custom built-to-order two piece wheel market. With so many wheel size options available with different lug patterns and backspacing it only makes sense to build them to order.
Barrels With an order placed, the components for the wheel are gathered together and put into the wheel assembly area with the work order.
Centers Once the machined center section is complete the proper barrel is selected, we use 6061 forged aluminum barrels from Indiana.
Punch the Valve Stem Since the barrel is a blank the valve stem hole is punched in the proper location
Valve Stem Hole And then it is cleaned up.
Prep the Barrel After the valve stem punch the barrel is then heated to expand it making it easier to slip over the center section.
Shim for Backspace While the barrel is being heated the center section is placed on a jig where shims are used to achieve the proper backspacing for each wheel.
Center is Placed The barrel is then placed on the center section and a fan is turned on to cool the barrel around the center section. You can see the gap between the two in this photo.
Runout Checked After the wheel is cooled enough for the center section to be locked into place, the wheel is then checked for runout or alignment, any issues need to be addressed at this point before it goes to final welding.
Ready for Welding Once the wheel has passed the runout/alignment check it goes into staging to be welded.
Machine Welded Wheels are machine welded.
Machine Welded Wheels are machine welded.
Final Finishing Now that welding is complete the wheel will be polished and and inspected for any defects. A final runout check will be done with a printout included with the wheels showing the test results and inspectors signature.