The invention relates to a method for shaping wire-shaped and rod-shaped starting materials by rolling, especially for rolling flat profiled elements consisting of a wire rod. The starting material is heated in a heating station at a desired temperature, shaped during at least one rolling process, and then cooled. According to the invention, once the starting material has been heated in the heating station, it is cooled in a cooling station to a pre-determinable rolling temperature; it is then shaped into a flat profiled element by rolling close to the gauge block, and then cooled and/or subjected to a subsequent treatment according to joining properties to be correspondingly adjusted. In this way, a series of different methods can be carried out by means of an installation for rolling starting materials with a patented structure, an austenite structure, a bainite structure or an undercooled austenite structure.