This month's feature : Wheels & Tires

Wheel Trends: Blingy and Blingier

The most popular aftermarket wheels today for those who like to cruise are chromed cast or polished billet.

What is billet, anyway?

Billet is a term for a block of cast or forged metal. A billet wheel is machined from a single piece of metal - usually a high grade of aluminum. More typically, a custom wheel will have a billet center and a stamped steel "barrel," all though there are some one-piece billet wheels on the market.

Forging is a process that gives some direction to "grain flow" through the metal, and increasing that metal part's strength along the flow. Forging is done with pressure and sometimes heat as well, either during or following the application of pressure. The result is a stronger material, meaning that for a given strength, a forged piece can be made smaller/thinner/lighter. These are always significant in wheel design, but especially so in high performance wheel design.

But new casting processes can result in wheels nearly as strong as forged wheels.

A billet can be made with either process. Machining the wheel center out of the billet takes a highly precise CAD/CAM milling machine. Boyd Coddington takes some of the credit for popularizing the billet wheel on his show cars...read more