Patent ID: 7228629

Claim:
A method of making a three-piece vehicle wheel assembly comprising: providing first and second circular blanks of an aluminum alloy selected from a group comprising two thousand series, six thousand series, and seven thousand series; forming without a casting or forging process the first and second circular blanks into first and second preforms, said first and second preforms having a disk-shaped component with a circumferential perimeter, and an annular rim portion extending axially at the circumferential perimeter of the disk-shaped component, the annular rim portion including a radially outwardly flared distal end portion and the preforms having a shorter axial length than a length of a finished rim; subjecting the first and second preforms to a quenching operation to harden the preforms, said quenching operation conducted so as to allow unhindered thermal deformation of the first and second preforms; forming the first and second preforms in the as quenched state in a first forming operation to return the first and second preform to a radially symmetric condition; forming the first and second preforms in the as quenched state in a second forming operation to shape the preforms into inner and outer halves of a wheel rim, including the formation of a drop center and retaining bead; and coupling the inner and outer halves of the wheel rim together with a centerpiece to complete the three piece assembly.