You Won’t Believe How Much Effort Goes Into Each Lexus Wheel

By adpock - August 24, 2016

Takaoka Lexus wheel factory

Like Lexus cars, Lexus wheels are just made better. But they’re not made by Lexus.

BBS Japan Co. Ltd., a German company operating in Japan’s Toyama Prefecture some 250 kilometers outside of Tokyo, has been making some of the world’s best wheels since 1970.

At their 38,520 square meter Takaoka wheel factory, approximately 300 employees set their collective efforts on making some of the highest quality forged wheels around. But when your clients are some of the world’s most meticulous luxury carmakers — including Aston Martin, Betley, and Lexus — what else would you expect?

While most luxury automobiles utilize aluminum wheels, many of those are made by casting, which requires the aluminium to be melted down and lose some of its strength. BBS specializes in forged wheels, which are made by heating the aluminum, but not to the point of melting, so that the metal can retain its molecular composition. Not only does this make the wheel stronger, it makes it lighter.

pic-04-large

To mold the metal, the craftspeople at the Takaoka plant heat a round piece of aluminum billet up to about 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Then they drop some 9,000 metric tons of pressure on top, using a giant hydraulic press. Then they do it again. Then the nascent wheel heads to another part of the plant where a “spinning” machine pulls the wheel into shape. Then it’s heated and cooled so that the molecules can bond. Then it’s cleaned and deoxidized.

After that, according to Lexus’s online magazine, “a final inspection takes place under careful human supervision. Here, the wheels are subjected to a process called shot peening, which adds a compressive residual stress layer to the metal by blasting it with metallic sand.”

But that’s just the beginning for Lexus IS F, RC F, and LS F Sport wheels, which have to go through even more rigors.

It’s all quite impressive. And just one more reason your Lexus is so well made.