This is really frustrating

posted to: Modeling a Wheel

Hi all, I'm trying to make the wheel, specifically the rim, similar as much as possible to the example but I can't comprehend how it's done using only the modifiers we've been taught.

In the Painting an Axe course (https://cgcookie.com/exercise/texture-painting-an-ax) there was a video showing quickly how to achieve the required result, I wish this had something similar.

A more specific question is - how did you approach making the rims? Did you start with a plane? A subdivided cube? Using Lattice?

Another question - For the wheel treads, did you use solidified planes?

Here you can see my lame attempts: https://imgur.com/a/SAqyDAk

Update

This video helped a lot. I'm all good.

Thanks :)