3D PRINTED WHEELS

If you aren’t satis ed with the wheels on your car, the usual method of nding a new design is visiting an aftermarket shop and choosing an existing wheel design. Wealthy people have the additional option of contacting a bespoke wheel manufacturer to create a unique design by forging a wheel or milling the excess material from a block of billet to produce the desired nish. The latter option is extremely expensive, however, and results in plenty of material wastage.

High-end American wheel company HRE is now investigating titanium 3D printed wheels using electronbeam technology to melt powder titanium in layers to create bespoke designs. This method is ef cient and can create designs previously thought impossible because of manufacturing limitations. The process is still pricey, but imagine walking into a wheel shop with your bespoke design and watching them print it immediately before tting the new wheels to your vehicle.