Let’s look at a big piece of what makes a “quality” wheel (from engineering standpoint)- the forging process. The highest quality wheels are forged on an 8000 ton press.
There are only a few of these machines in the world, so even if finish machining and other processes are performed by the wheel manufacturer or supplier, the forging is most likely done somewhere else.
Just for kicks, I searched for 10 minutes for such a machine in the US. I remember hearing from a good friend in the aftermarket wheel industry that Champion Motorsports has access to one in the US, but I could be wrong. Can’t find evidence of this online, other than a couple threads I found where it says CM can supply wheel spares from the US. They do have a custom wheel program though, and it would seem logical they have access to a press close by to shorten delivery, cut shipping, but since it’s such a huge capital investment so who knows?
Anyways, in the quick search, I can’t find a press in the US, although I’m sure there are a couple.
Search for “8000 ton wheel press Japan” though and you’ll see a ton of quality wheel companies (including Champion Motorsports, Rays, Awksher, Ralph And Chuck (RAC)) pop up with statements that these forgings are done on machines in Japan. Yes it’s the interwebbzzz but I’d like to think some of this is true.
According to Rays’ website, the only 10,000 ton press equipment in Japan is at Rays.
http://www.rays-msc.com/html/jwl.html
Plus from their testing, it would seem they introduce a higher margin of safety than many others in their testing standards.
Makes perfect sense, because Japanese companies tend to be very conservative.
I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I had a hard time finding a completely US made wheel, including the forging. I can’t find evidence CCW wheels are forged here, although of course that’s possible.