WHo WE ARE
Bob Ward founded American Rim Supply in 1991, and has been setting standards in the Global market for 3-piece ‘Spun Forged’ wheel rims for 30 years now.
Automobiles came early to Bob, who started racing Quarter Midgets at age 8, culminating at age 40 racing wingless Sprint Cars and Indy cars. His father, Bill Ward, designed and engineered aerospace parts, raced hydroplane boats and built the engines for them, and founded Ward Machine Co. Bob’s grandfather, Harvey Ward, designed and built championship dirt cars and Indianapolis race cars, even winning the 1935 Indianapolis 500, driven by Kelly Petillo. And, Bob’s Son, Danny Ward raced professionally, and strongly competed in Shifter Cart racing.
While manual metal spinning has been done for many centuries, Bob joined the movement to CNC metal spinning early. Improving on the “feel” of the manual spinner, Bob and his highly trained staff developed new designs and proprietary manufacturing methods with the precision controls and repeatability of CNC equipment and the high forces of modern hydraulics applied to spinning lathes.
The alloy (Aluminum 5454, with its high levels of Magnesium and Manganese) and the mill process (ARS proprietary) utilized by American Rim Supply is rather unique to the wheel industry and possesses many advantages, not the least of which are toughness, marine-grade properties, and most importantly, the properties that allow the spun-forged material to achieve 45KSI (45,000 lb/in²) Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) during the spinning process. This quality allows ARS to utilize its proprietary spinning process, with its 30-year experience, to concentrate the high strength in the higher stress areas of the rim, while positioning lower, tougher properties in the lower stress areas of the rim, virtually eliminating any catastrophic rim failure (cracking) in the case of severe impact … a distinct safety advantage.
Another distinct advantage of this alloy is that there is NO HEAT-TREAT distortion because there is no typical heat-treat applied. This alloy achieves its hardness/toughness in the spinning process due to the thickness reduction (forging), resulting in a much truer rim, with no post-heat-treat machining necessary, eliminating the ‘thick-thin’ sections created when a rim must be machined post heat-treat, to get it round.
Its 3-piece and other configurations offer virtually infinite flexibility in diameters, rim widths, and wheel offsets to accommodate vehicle applications that other manufacturing methods cannot achieve.
American Rim Supply, the world’s largest dedicated, stocking, 3-piece rim manufacturer, produces multi-piece, spun-forged wheel rims for automotive, SUV, Drag racing, Track racing, hot rod, UTV, and off-road. For 30 years, ARS has earned a reputation for safety, quality, integrity, delivery, and value, making it a trusted partner with leading aftermarket professional suppliers.
ARS’s comprehensive rim inventory often allows for same-day shipping on many items, enhancing fast delivery to the end-user enthusiasts. The ARS in-house design and engineering team has no peer for quick turn-around times for special tooling.