Drilling Blanks for Hard to Find Bolt Patterns

American Racing announced the opening of a new machining facility in Atlanta, Ga., a move that is expected to cut the delivery time for custom drill-from-blank orders by half. “Having this additional capability in Atlanta really cuts down on our shipping time,” said Keith Alinder, technical manager for Wheel Pros, the company that owns American Racing. “We know customers don’t want to wait and we can deliver orders quickly no matter where in the U.S. they are located.” Wheel Pros created the facility to handle demand for wheel orders for vehicles with less common bolt patterns. Many companies stock only the most common bolt patterns and that means some vehicles can be hard to fit. Wheel Pros solves this problem by offering customization of many styles. “Being able to drill from blank gives us a lot of inventory flexibility,” said Alinder. The process involves careful drilling to accommodate a wide range of vehicle fitments. Wheel Pros manufactures wheels with bolt patterns to suit virtually any common fitment, but this enables the company to quickly handle orders to fit a wider range of vehicles. Although Wheel Pros is not the only company that offers this solution, many outsource it. Alinder said it’s a process that Wheel Pros has handled in-house for more than 10 years. “It’s a priority for us to have quality control over every piece,” said Alinder. “It’s something we believe is important enough to do ourselves.” United States customers can now expect to receive their custom orders within a week of ordering, regardless of where they are based. Wheels are drilled and typically ship within two to three days of an order being placed. Before opening the Atlanta facility, all custom orders were shipped from the company’s Cerritos, Calif., warehouse. Both the California and Georgia facilities can also handle center bore drilling, allowing still more fitment applications.