For the problems of low production efficiency and low material utilization in preparation of a certain automotive wheel hub bearing outer ring, a precision hot closed die forging process was designed, and based on forging forming theory, three forging processes including upsetting, pre-forging and final forging were formulated. Then, the forming process of the bearing outer ring parts was simulated by software Deform-3D, and it was found that the forging load under this process was high, the degree of die wear was deep, and the die life was low. Furthermore, the pre-forged structure was improved, and two optimization schemes were proposed, which was subjected to forming inspection and compared in sequence the post-forging equivalent stress, forging load and die wear conditions between two optimization schemes. The results indicate that the metal streamline and external forming conditions of the forgings using scheme 2 are good, the forging load decreases by approximately 20%, and the wear depths of upper die and lower die reduce by 1.200×10-6 and 0.780×10-6 mm, respectively which is helpful for improving the quality of forgings and extends the life of forging dies. Finally, the production test indicates that the formed forgings meet the production requirements by using scheme 2.