How tight should skateboard wheels be? We have the answer for you

Any world-class athlete will tell you that their sports equipment is the continuation of themselves. Looking after it and maintaining its ideal condition is paramount. For a skateboarder, perfectly tight wheels are critical not only for an exhilarating skateboarding experience but also for the skateboarder’s safety. Let’s talk about skateboard wheels.

There are enough skateboard manufacturers out there, and you can choose the board and the wheels to your liking. It also doesn’t hurt that most manufacturing companies are founded by former or current skateboarders, and those guys know what they are doing.

Sizes and types will depend on your skill level and skateboarding style, including personal quirks. The boards themselves, of course, have an aesthetic value as well.

But how tight should skateboard wheels be?

By and large, skateboard wheels should ensure a perfect spin, thus being tight but not overly so. The middle ground is the best. Tighter trucks and wheels can harm the bearings.

At the same time, if the wheels are too loose, they lose stability and allow unwelcome shifts and speed wobbles. Like everywhere else in life, we need balance.

In this article, we’ll tell you how tight should skateboard wheels be and explain all the nuances. You’ll just have to make a wheel and truck adjustment for your level and style of skateboarding.

Skateboards need regular check-ups too

If you are a passionate rider, your skateboard is exposed to a lot of strain. So keeping it in excellent condition and ensuring the best riding experience is something worth thinking about. Exhilarating speeds and smooth riding require regular maintenance.

Extremely loose and tight wheels will exacerbate the riding and even make it dangerous for you.

If you have excessively tight skateboard wheels, your maneuverability deteriorates. And if your riding style involves multiple tricks, or you are a freestyler, for example, you’ll want to adjust skateboard wheels by loosening them a bit.

Tricks require maximum agility, and you won’t have it here.

Tighter wheels are making it harder to accelerate the board. They just feel stiffer and less reactive to the rider’s moves.

Besides, with tight wheels, your landings are going to be harder, and your joints will feel every one of them. Hard wheels are tough on you.

And finally, it’s damaging for the bearings, because with tight wheels, they fall into disrepair much sooner.

If the skateboard wheels are too loose, it’s not great either. A rider partly loses stability, and skateboarding generally gets more difficult.

That’s why we don’t think that inexperienced riders should loosen skateboard wheels. If the ‘pros’ tell you that you need loose wheels to ‘feel it’, don’t mind them. Take your time and improve your technique before trying to catch up with ‘the masters’.

Loose skateboard wheels can result in a wheel bite, and it can be dangerous, especially for newbies. When the wheel ‘bites’ the board (that’s why it’s called a wheel bite), it can come to an abrupt stop and push the rider forward.

The wobbling of the loose wheels can escalate and cause substantial damage to the skateboard.

As you can see, neither condition is good. It’s better to keep an eye on your skateboard and make all the essential adjustments in time.

Diagnostics and maintenance

If you experienced any of the reasons described above, it probably means that you need to loosen skateboard wheels or tighten them.

But there is also an easy test you can run to check if your wheels need fine-tuning.

Start with cleaning the wheels and bearings for the purity of the experiment. Then revolve them, so the wheels spin freely, and note the time. If they are spinning freely for about 20 seconds, you don’t need to worry.

If the skateboard wheels spin for 10 seconds or less, it’s a sign of excess tightness.

And if they spin for 30 seconds or more, that means that they are too loose. Again, these estimations are general, and you can adjust them to your level and riding style.

If fixing the board has never been your thing, bring it to the repair shop, but if you’re not afraid to get your hands a little dirty and the words ‘truck axle’, ‘axle nuts’, or ‘bearing spacer’ don’t sound like a foreign language, go ahead and read the guide.

Step-by-step

Position. Start with positioning your board wheels up. You’ll tighten or loosen the axle nut with one hand and keep the board steady with another.

Turn. Depending on whether you are tightening or loosening the wheels, turn the axle nut with a skate tool. Turn the axle nut clockwise or counter clockwise.

Check the tightness. Make sure that the axle nut is properly tightened. There shouldn’t be too much space left. But don’t overdo it. Don’t crush the bearings between the truck’s axle and the truck hanger.

Check again. Now let the wheel spin freely. If the wheel stops spinning too soon or not soon enough, adjust accordingly. That was one wheel.

Ensure the same tightness for the rest of the wheels.

Synchronize. Run the ‘free spin’ test again for all the wheels simultaneously. Use the skate tool to fine-tune.

Test in action. Now give your skateboard a test ride. Make sure that this level of tightness suits you, and that you are comfortable.

In the end, no matter the general rules, it all comes to personal preferences.

Frequently asked questions

And finally…

As you can see, the issue of the ideal tightness for your skateboard wheels is not as simple. We outlined general principles, like how to test the tightness, what the consequences of too loose or too tight skateboard wheels will be, and how to tighten or loosen the wheels.

But in the end, you are the one who will make the final diagnosis because the most important thing is you have the most fun while doing tricks, freestyling, or doing ramps in a skate park.

Read also: What is a skateboard wheel bite? Reasons to happen