To provide a piston ring manufacturing method improving productivity of a piston ring while ensuring coating treatment to the upper and lower faces of a piston ring wire material.

In a winding process (step ST1) of the piston ring manufacturing method, the piston ring wire material 10 is supplied to a bending machine and spirally wound around a core metal 20. In a clearance forming process (step ST2), required clearances X1 are formed between the piston ring wire material 10 after wound. The required clearances X1 are formed by pulling at least one end of the piston ring wire material 10 within an elastic region. In a coating process (step ST3), the upper and lower faces 11, 12 of the piston ring wire material 10 after forming clearances are coated. In a cutting process (step ST4), the piston ring wire material 10 after coated is cut in ring length.