Making a Wheel:
Ever wondered how an alloy wheel is produced from idea to production? Here is the explaination of production of Borbet wheels.

Stage 1: Idea.
When a designer has an idea for an alloy wheel, they need a good understanding of the market, a concept and a sharp pencil.

Stage 2: Initial Design.
The second phase for an alloy wheel design is for it to be designed on the computer to check the aesthetics in the most realistic scenarios. For example digital images will be drawn and assessed before final design, another good aesthetical test is to project wheel designs onto a car before as borbet designers are doing below:

Stage 3: Final Design.
Once an the inital designs are accepted, the full technical design process begins with CAD and specialist alloy wheel design software.

         

Stage 4. Prototype & Testing.
Once designed a prototype is cast and/or machined for the testing process where Borbet test strength, stucture, perfomance, finish and required production elements. These tests will be carried out in-house and by approval bodies in Germany, which is required to ensure sales are legal.

         

Stage 5. Production 1.
All going well, the prototype will pass its tests and begin in the production process where it is again cast or machined:

        

Stage 6. Production 2.
At this stage the wheels are ready for painting, as they are passed through the auotomated spray routes until they come out undercoated coloured and laquered. They are then passed through quality control where they are individually inspected and passed accordingly.

For the Borbet production video, click here, this file is 20MB approx.