Definitely don’t think these production 93as are a full on replacement for f4s.
They're very similar to the pre-production 95as I reviewed a few pages back, but actually feel just a tad harder and have a little more bark/screech than the preproduction 95as which is nice. Though they still have many of the same issues as the 95as.
They are wayyyyyyy better to push around and ride on, and would definitely unlock some spots that would otherwise be unskateable on 99 or 101as. In terms of powerslides and reverts, they feel weird and are less screechy and hard but slide pretty much just as good as 99a f4s when you get used to feel and sound of the slide.
However, like my review of the preproduction 95as (coreless), they have many of the same issues, just to a lesser extent. There's many situations where they still feel like a soft, cruiser/hybrid ish wheel. They will still pitch you harder if you wheelbite than a 97 or 99a f4. And compared to 97 or 99a f4s, they still feel a bit gummier to pop tricks off of which isn't good.
On waxed concrete ledges, they nose/tail/lip/bluntslide basically as good as an f4 99a. But they catch and grip a lot more if you don't lock into a perfect 5050, or pinched grind like a crook or something. They also grip and catch a lot more when climbing onto slappy grinds on concrete curbs, painted or not. On metal edges, and blunt/lipsliding wooden boxes they have a similar issue where they just catch more than a hard wheel.
I think the tldr is: if you're only concerned with initiating powerslides for speed checks/reverts... then they're basically just as good as a hard wheel/f4 once you get used to the feeling. But anything you're doing involves contact with the ledge/curb/rail where the wheel isn't sliding perfectly perpendicular, you may run into some issues because (and again I'm purely guessing here) the soft wheel cannot vibrate exactly at the frequency to replicate the slide of a hard wheel, or cannot initiate that vibration, which is how powell claims they replicate the slide of a hard wheel.
I had some of my friends, who skate f4s, try do some grinds on a ledge and some slappy crooks on this rough ish concrete curb that we all skate. They all found these 93as were significantly grippier than f4s for that. After letting them try my setup for a bit, they all loved how these wheels rode, but none of them would be willilng to switch from f4s to these.
I think if I was skating ground that I really struggled with on 99a f4s, or pretty much deemed unskateable on 99a f4s... then these would be really really good. But if the ground is not too uncomfortable or manageable on 99a f4s, I would prefer the f4s if it involved any kind of slide or grind action. Heck, I think overall I'd even prefer 97a f4s which still feel a lot harder than these 93as when just riding and are more versatile on grinds/slides on a variety of surfaces, albeit not as good as 99a f4s.. Again, like my previous impressions, these 93a powells feel like a hybrid wheel, whereas I'd categorize f4 99as, and even 97as as hard wheels that are pretty versatile.
So yeah, very very good wheel, I'm shocked they could make something of this durometer slide so good... but still, I'd only go for them if 97/99 f4s are giving you serious trouble on whatever you're skating. I would definitely consider trying the production 95a or 97as when they drop, but I've also spent wayyy too much money of these preproduction and production samples up until now.
edit: all the mentions of 97, 99 or 101a I'm referring to spitfire f4s. Also my current f4s are og classics, and wider than the v1 93a 54mm I have, so any grip/friction from the wheel would be purely from the formula, not wheel shape discrepancy
Topic: Wheels Thread (Read 797550 times)