Flanging is a common sheet metal forming operation to produce structural sheet metal components. Flanging is used to give a component smooth rounded edge, and to provide jointing and assembling of components. In this paper, the simulation and experimental results of two types of z-flanging are investigated. First, a z-flange forming which incorporates mating draw beads on the main and backup punches is studied. Drawbeads are used in commercial stretch flange operations to control or limit the rate of cut-out expansion. A z-flange forming is then performed on a blank with pre-punch created holes. The non-uniform deformation of the hole and undulating are two main important defects. Stretch z-flange forming is simulated using the explicit finite element (FE) LS-DYNA software. In three dimensions FE simulation, four different types of shell elements have been used to determine the one showing the best agreement with the experimental results.