If you want to have something for a long period then you must take care of it. In this article, we will be learning about how to clean skateboard wheels and take proper care of them.
We must remember those skateboards are not all surface-type vehicles and go through many hard and rough surfaces.
After some time you will notice your skateboard has caught some chewing gum or some kind of lubes or threads or maybe something worse than these.
You might skate on muddy paddy areas which will even impact the ceramic bearings. Therefore, proper and routine cleaning is a must for your skateboard parts.
We will be knowing about what is the best way to clean skateboard wheels and you will soon find the task of cleaning the wheels to be very easy than what you may think it to be.
Signs That Indicate Your Skateboard Wheels and Bearings Require Cleaning
The wheels digest a lot of things you can imagine. Starting from oily blemish, dewy gum, lube or wax, mud to everything the street has acquired.
As the day goes by, you will notice that the swiftness will not be there as the beginning, you will feel that something is holding back the skateboard wheel.
That is the indication from skateboard you will receive when it’s time to show some love to your skateboard by cleaning it properly.
We cannot just throw the skateboard into the water as most of them can have water-sensitive bearings.
Hence we’ll know what items we need and how to clean skateboard wheels.
Items Required For The Cleaning Process
- A plain smooth surface
- Enough water
- Wrench to take off the ball bearing wheels
- Wiper or cloth to clean
- Surf or washing soap
- Dry towel
How To Clean Skateboard Wheels Along With The Bearings?
You must clean the skateboard wheels in a tidy place. In this section, apart from the wheels of a skateboard, we will also learn about how to clean skateboard bearings and other skateboard parts.
So, let us begin now.
Take off the wheels and bearings
Rotate the board so that it can lie on the deck and wheels facing up.
You can use a half-inch wrench depending upon the skateboard wheel size to remove the axle bolts and wheel nuts. Then gently remove the wheels.
Once you take off the wheels, keep the axle of the truck at a 45-degree angle inside the mouth of the bearing point to take off the spherical bearings.
There are 4 wheel bearings altogether in a skateboard.
Cleaning process of wheels
Take a bucket filled with soap water, and then dip the wheels into the tub for some time which will help to remove the dirt from the wheels.
Make sure the stainless steel ball bearings are taken off the wheels.
Once they are completely soaked into the soap water, make sure to use a clean cloth or white towel to clean them nicely.
Dip the wheels to an extent where the gunk can be shred off the wheel track easily and you will get clean skateboard wheels.
Brushing
To perform this step you need a wire brush, you can get it from any hardware shop or online website.
This is one of the important steps and needs to handle with care. Dip your wheels into hot water for few minutes after removing the Swiss bearings.
This will help the gunk to loosen up on the wheel track.
Now gently brush it for some time and keep it soaking into the hot water, the gunk will come off easily.
Drying process of wheels
The cleaning processes also include drying your wheels. Check if the wheels are completely dry before putting the bearings and fixing the skateboard wheels on the skateboard.
If water is left inside it will weaken the deck’s strength and even destroy the sealed needle bearings by forming rust.
You can use a clean cloth or towels to dry the wheels or can use a hair drier to remove the excess water off the wheels.
If you don’t have a drier, simply keep them under the sun for some time and wait for them to get dry.
Once it is completely dry you can reassemble the wheels and bearings to the skateboard.
How to clean skateboard bearings and lubricate them?
The skateboard bearings are also not free of wear & tear even if you have high-quality precision bearings.
To learn how to clean bearings, skateboard wheels need to be removed first. Now, take out the wheel ball bearings and dip them into isopropyl alcohol for some time. Check if the bearing shield is there so that you can open it too if removable.
Keeping the dirty bearings into the solution will help to shred off the dirt and get a clean bearing. In the same way, you can try to clean longboard bearings too.
After your bearing services are complete, put some drop of bearing lubricant to get good serviceable bearings.
Fun Fact of the day
Professional skaters often use Slewing ring bearings to facilitate heavy turns.
How to clean skateboard trucks & bushings?
Just like other parts of skateboard trucks also need proper maintenance and should be cleaned to increase the sustainability of the item.
You just need a paper towel, a screwdriver, WD-40, and pliers for this. Begin by detaching the trucks & bushings from the deck.
Spray the WD-40 on the paper towel and wipe the truck to clean the dirt. To clean the bushing, you can rub them with the same paper towel.
Once the cleaning is over you can reassemble the parts and joints and then you are set to go.
Fun Fact of the day
Did you know, the Sleeve bearings are also called bushings or journal bearings?
How To Clean Grip Tape Dirt?
Along with wheels and bearings, there are also deposits of dirt on the grip tape over the deck.
To remove the surface dirt, you can use a rubber not the regular school rubber but the cement pickup eraser.
You will get it in any skate shop by asking grip gum to clear the grip tape surface area.
Take a toothbrush and dip it in soap water and scrub the surface of the grip tape thoroughly and once it is done then clean it with a cloth or rag.
In this way, the dirt will get loosen up and you can start clearing the first by applying the eraser.
You can blow dry it for a minute and that’s it.
How To Clean Skateboard wheels with water?
If you want good performance then you must clean the roller skate wheels as well as other parts to put a stop to get dirt and gunk particles which will decrease the speed and performance of the roller skate.
At first, remove the nuts from the wheels with the help of a socket wrench and then remove all the wheels from the roller skate sneakers. Do the same for all the wheels.
Now take each of the wheels off the axle, and then keep it sidewise on a flat plane-like bench.
With the help of a skate bearing remover, pull out the roller skate bearings from the wheels.
Now take a tub filled with soap water or detergent and put all the wheels into the tub for some time.
Once you see that the dirt and grime are getting removed from the wheels then take them out. Take a clean towel and wipe off all the grime and dirt.
Clean gently the outer part, the nooks, and crannies, the internal section and center of each of the wheels.
Do the same with the sealed roller bearings as well. Then place the bearings again into the wheels with the help of bearing remover or your fingers.
After everything you need to reassemble the roller parts back to their position the same way, we did for the skateboard.
Conclusion
Since we proceeded towards the end, you must have a clear classification about how to take care of your fun buddy which is your skateboard, longboard, or roller skateboard wheels.
This article will help everyone especially the beginners who don’t know how to maintain their boards.
If you follow the steps mentioned in this article, you will be able to easily complete the entire cleaning process within a lesser time.
Now as you have all the information on how to clean skateboard wheels and how to separate and reassemble the parts, you can do it by yourself whenever necessary.
The more you care about your skateboard, the better your riding experiences will be.
Frequently Asked Question
- What household items can I use to clean skateboard bearings?
Many skaters will have this question, especially the newbie riders. Regarding household items, you will need things like a gum grip eraser, a clean cloth or a towel, some rags, and water. People sometimes use acetone to clean.
- What can I use to clean my skateboard?
To get a clean skateboard you must clean the deck properly. You can use a wire brush dipped in water to clean the grip tape.
Dry it then and apply some grip gum. You can use this for a long skateboard too.
- How do you restore skateboard wheels?
Begin with attaching the bearings to the wheels. Now, one by one fix the wheel back onto the truck axle and put the axle nut onto the outer portion of the wheel.
Tighten it using a wrench to ensure it’s fixed.
- Is it bad to skateboard on wet ground?
Do not skate on the ground which is wet or when raining as it will damage the deck of your skateboard. The wood of the deck might sink up and get deformed.
Dry your skateboard whenever it gets wet.
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