Thankfully, there\u2019s now a detailed video on how these iconic wheels are made. Produced by the straightforwardly named Japanese Industry Process<\/a> YouTube channel, it clocks in at about 50 minutes and shows every step of the process for both aluminum and magnesium wheels. Either way, that process starts with melting the metal\u2014including leftover scraps\u2014to pour into molds from which the wheels are cast. And that\u2019s done in small furnaces just sitting on the floor of the shop among stacks of molds and tools. Japan has plenty of massive, high-tech factories<\/a>, but this is not one of them.<\/p>\n The aluminum is heated to 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit. It\u2019s then scooped out of the furnaces in buckets coated in graphite for heat resistance. Here, the pieces of the mold are also heated, sprayed with air to remove dust, and then again with a release agent to prevent the material from sticking to the mold. Each mold consists of two halves and a central core that\u2019s a mirror image of the wheel\u2019s hub and spokes. These pieces are clamped together before the molten aluminum is poured in and allowed to cool under pressure.<\/p>\n Watanabe makes magnesium wheels with an even more old-school sand casting process. Molds are made from compacted sand, which has to be carefully heated and dried to provide maximum strength and remove moisture, as they would otherwise react violently with the magnesium. The molds are placed in piles of sand, the material is poured in, and then the mold is chipped away to release the wheel.<\/p>\n \t\t \n\t\t\t\t\u30ec\u30fc\u30b7\u30f3\u30b0\u30db\u30a4\u30fc\u30eb\u3092\u4f5c\u308b\u3002\u65e5\u672c\u306e\u30e2\u30ce\u3065\u304f\u308a\u7cbe\u795e\u3092\u4f53\u73fe\u3059\u308b\u5de5\u5834\u306b\u5bc6\u7740\u3002\u624b\u4f5c\u696d\u3067\u306e\u92f3\u9020\u304b\u3089\u52a0\u5de5\u3001\u68b1\u5305\u307e\u3067\u3002\t\t\t<\/p>\n When the wheels pop out of the mold, they\u2019re far from ready to go on a car. Excess aluminum is hammered or sawed off, surfaces are sanded, and dents are fixed by building up more material with a TIG welder and then sanding it back down to smooth surface. Some finishing work is done with a CNC machine\u2014which makes for quite the contrast with the somewhat medieval look of the rest of the shop\u2014but stud holes are still made by a person with a drill press. Finally, the wheels get a coat of gray paint before being boxed up and shipped.<\/p>\n It\u2019s fitting that old-school wheels like this are made with an old-school process. And it\u2019s pretty cool to see bits of metal turned into one of the most recognizable aftermarket wheel designs around.<\/p>\n Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he’s not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The biggest car news and reviews, no BS Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8,17,15863],"class_list":{"0":"post-20004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japan","8":"tag-japan","9":"tag-japanese","10":"tag-wheels"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Molten](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-09-at-10.04.45-AM.jpeg\")
Japanese Industry Process via YouTube<\/p>\n![\"\u30ec\u30fc\u30b7\u30f3\u30b0\u30db\u30a4\u30fc\u30eb\u3092\u4f5c\u308b\u3002\u65e5\u672c\u306e\u30e2\u30ce\u3065\u304f\u308a\u7cbe\u795e\u3092\u4f53\u73fe\u3059\u308b\u5de5\u5834\u306b\u5bc6\u7740\u3002\u624b\u4f5c\u696d\u3067\u306e\u92f3\u9020\u304b\u3089\u52a0\u5de5\u3001\u68b1\u5305\u307e\u3067\u3002](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778437631_248_hqdefault.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n