If your skateboard wheels are not spinning well, then you’re landed at the right place.
No worries; in this article, you will arm yourself with relevant information on how to make skateboard wheels spin longer.
Actually, it depends on various factors but here I will share some useful yet easy-to-action methods to make your skateboard wheels spin longer and faster.
From all these methods, try whatever you feel is the cause for your slow wheels. One of them will definitely work for your skateboard or longboard wheels.
How To Make Skateboard Wheels Spin Longer
Let’s dig into this step by step.
Tactic 1: Clean Your Skateboard Bearings And Wheels
After riding a skateboard for a while, dirt and debris are packed in wheels and bearings, making your skateboard speed slow and start producing noise.
Regularly clean your wheels and bearing whenever it requires to be clean.
Now the question appears how to clean it. For that, if you haven’t checked our post on how to clean skateboard wheels and bearings, go and check it out first. By reading this detailed guide, you will be able to clean it yourself.
Tactic 2: Lose Your Axle Nuts
Firstly I will suggest you follow the cleaning process as you saw above because, in most cases, that’s the only problem that holds the skateboard wheels spin faster.
If still, your wheels are not performing well, then this is for you.
Sometimes we extra tight axle nuts for better performance, but that’s not legitimate. It makes skateboard wheels spinning slow.
By losing axle nuts slightly can make your skateboard wheels spin longer.
Use a wrench to perform it.
Slightly lose the wheel and study the speed by spinning it. If done, that’s good; not replicate the process.
Tactic 3: Upgrade Your Skateboard Wheels And Bearings
If you are done cleaning your skateboard wheels and bearings and losing axle nuts, still not satisfied with the speed, it merely says your skateboard wheels or bearings need to upgrade.
If you want to enjoy skateboard riding, never compromise with quality. Invest once in top rated skateboard wheels and enjoy lifelong.
While picking the new wheels, you have to examine the wheel’s diameter and durometer; furthermore, you have to clear for what purpose you need.
Every wheel has its specification; you have to decide the most suitable wheels, according to your need. To make your research easy, we have a specific detailed review article such as best skateboard wheels for rough roads.
After that, bearing also plays a significant part, like increasing speed by decreasing friction.
Almost all the bearings are manufactured in the same size, which makes it easy to choose.
Always consider the built quality and rating factor of bearings, which is ABEC (Annular bearing engineer committee), between the scale of 1-9.
The high rating indicates the bearings are very precious but also weaker. So the most recommended bearing is between 3 to 5 ratings, which is strong and long-lasting.
Tactic 4: Master Your Riding Skills
To ride faster or make skateboard wheels spin longer, you have to master your riding skills first if you’re not a pro yet.
Like:
- Wear Suitable skate shoes
- Safety Gear
- Decide a place to practice daily
- Learn to fall defended
- Join Other skaters
- Learn to top at high speed
Tactic 5: Get The Wheels According To Your Riding Style
If you tried all the above tactics but can still not make your skateboard wheels spin longer, then it’s time to get new wheels according to your riding style. Look for different types of skateboard wheels in the market, each with its own unique properties.
For example, if you like to do a lot of tricks, you might want to get wheels specifically designed for that purpose. These kinds of wheels are usually smaller and harder, which makes them ideal for doing flips and other tricks. If you like slides, you can get the best skateboard wheels for slides.
If you’re more into cruising around, you might want to get softer and larger wheels. These kinds of wheels are better for cruising because they provide a smoother ride. If you ride a longboard, which is mainly used for cruising but also if you like rough roads, you’ll need the best longboard wheels for cruising on rough roads.
No matter what kind of riding you do, there’s a type of wheel out there that’s perfect for you. So don’t be afraid to experiment until you find the right ones.
Bonus Tips
- The reason for skateboard wheels not spinning well is maybe you’re riding on rough roads. Try to avoid such highways if you want to make your wheels spin longer.
- If you’re using a spacer that fits between the bearings in the center of the wheels, it can also be the reason why your skateboard is not spinning longer. This happens when you use low-quality bearings. Therefore either replace the bearings with a quality one or remove the spacer.
The most common problem found for skateboards to slow down fast is not cleaning skateboard wheels and bearings regularly and over-tightening of trucks. Buy not cleaning regularly; dirt and debris get packed, which slows down the wheels and bearings. Further, the over-tightened trucks cause pressure on bearings which do not allow the wheels to spin freely.
There are different reasons why your skateboard wheels might not be spinning for long. Firstly, you might be using the wrong wheels for your riding style. The second possibility is that your wheels are dirty. Third, your bearings are worn out, and you need replacement. There is also the possibility that the axle nuts are too tight. Lastly, your riding surface might be too rough, or your technique may need improvement.
Skateboard wheels ideally spin for a long time, like 20 to 30 seconds. But it really depends on the rider, the terrain, the wheels, and the bearings.
Yes, bigger skateboard wheels are faster because they have more momentum.
If you’re facing a wheel slipping problem you can also learn how to make skateboard wheels less slippery in our previous articles.
Conclusion
I noticed 90% of people’s problems on how to make skateboard wheels spin longer get solved in tactic one only.
It is not as hard to make the wheel spin faster again as earlier it is. If you follow our steps, you will make it done efficiently.
I hope you found this article helpful.
I am James Buckridge, the founder of skateboardidea.com. Skateboarding is my passion, and I have years of teaching experience in this field. Our vision and mission is to provide you with accurate information on everything related to skateboarding. Catch me on Twitter & Pinterest.