This paper discusses the application of several techniques involved in the development of the 3D finite element (FE) models of rod and wire continuous rolling process. The FE models are implemented into the FE-program MSC.Marc and used to investigate the thermal and mechanical behavior of billet during the rolling process. All nonlinear equations included in the models are solved by the static and dynamic procedures, respectively. Data transfer technique is proposed to keep the continuity of simulation results. And the computational time of static procedure is significantly reduced by using a rigid pushing body. In all models, the constant time step method and the auto time step method are respectively used to define time step for the solution of equations. Simulation results of the models with different time step methods are compared. And comparison between calculated values and measured ones of the temperature at the surface of billet shows the validity of the FE models. © 2011 Shanghai Jiaotong University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.