Slap MessageBoards

Skateboarding => Shoes & Gear => Topic started by: ChuckRamone on October 10, 2015, 07:17:54 AM

Title: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: ChuckRamone on October 10, 2015, 07:17:54 AM
I've always ridden the same wheels pretty hard but today, after some lurkers at the park asked to try my board, one of them told me my bearings and wheels were shot. I knew my bearings were pretty bad but I was wondering how he came to the conclusion my wheels were shot. Given this dude was kinda homeless-looking and smoking something maybe I shouldn't take it super seriously but you could tell he skated at some point in his life by the way he rode a board.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: johnes on October 10, 2015, 07:39:37 AM
Maybe your set up just felt slow, old wheels sometimes start to feel soft and sluggish after a while to me. The only thing that makes me change wheels is usually just when I feel the impulse to buy new wheels.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: Glue Reed on October 10, 2015, 07:56:19 AM
Sounds to me like those same people who say things like "your board has no pop", "your bushings are dead" and "I can't skate boards from this woodshop".  Made up things to make it look like if it weren't for those wheels, i'd be killing it right now. 

I'd say as long as they're not flat spotted and completely bowed you're ok.

Maybe your set up just felt slow, old wheels sometimes start to feel soft and sluggish after a while to me. The only thing that makes me change wheels is usually just when I feel the impulse to buy new wheels.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: The Woodsman on October 10, 2015, 07:56:45 AM
I only replace wheels when I get serious flat spots, they wear down to a very small size, or they get so used the insides don't hold he berings tightly anymore.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: Tracer on October 10, 2015, 01:31:23 PM
When they turn shit brown and go beyond 48mm. 2 sets a year roughly, I know sponsored dudes that set up wheels with every new deck
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: Coconut Lotion on October 10, 2015, 02:00:46 PM
The only thing that makes me change wheels is usually just when I feel the impulse to buy new wheels.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: zippy z on October 10, 2015, 05:35:00 PM
Probably every other month is the longest I go between sets. Normally I ride a set for two boards. So that's about 6 weeks per set. I normally get a new board after 3 weeks. Florida has a lot of nasty blacktop that gets all over your wheels and turns them a gross color orange and they look like shit.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: Noble Experiment on October 11, 2015, 08:37:37 AM
Besides getting bad flat spots, I'll change em when they start feeling all laggy and sluggish, which is usually when they've already shrunk down in size quite a bit already. When it takes you ten pushes to get down the sidewalk when it only used to take you five, that's a good sign that it's time. Sometimes its only after a few months, other times its half a year or more, it depends on the wheels. I don't have a car and use my board to skate everywhere I need to go though, and I'm constantly out and about, so I tend to go through wheels faster than most people.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: Heather Chandler on October 11, 2015, 06:13:53 PM
What would Vince do?

My Ride: Vincent Alvarez - TransWorld SKATEboarding (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV7UYroc7QU#)
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: Chavo on October 11, 2015, 10:29:15 PM
When they're coned. I heard about these new wheels called Blurrs that you can flip over.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: fookya on October 12, 2015, 07:14:51 AM
I'll usually change them when I pick up my board one day and think to myself  "fuck, these wheels look small as hell."
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: the canadian suit on October 12, 2015, 07:44:23 AM
I'll usually change them when I pick up my board one day and think to myself  "fuck, these wheels look small as hell."

I never know when to change em, this is my usual reasoning. Or, whenever Prize Fighter gets a new shipment I usually know it's about that time.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: Allen. on October 12, 2015, 09:06:19 AM
I'll rotate my wheels every time I swap out a board, back left to front right and vice versa. To me it seems like there's a point of no return, once wheels start wearing down, they start doing it bad, I feel like. So once I notice that the wheels are off, in terms of sizing... wheels in the back or front being way different sizes, then it's time. Or once they don't have any shape and are completely squared off.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: ogcoors on October 13, 2015, 05:39:23 AM
I usually ride wheels until one chunks out or flatspots. It's all personal preference. I wouldn't put too much thought into it. Don't be that guy that buys a whole new complete every month though. A real man only has to change a board out for a season or so. Those wheels and trucks should last a while!

Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: CINCINNATI on October 13, 2015, 07:11:02 AM
I've had the same bones for like 3 years. spf conical shaped ones. started as 60s, now probably 55s? i guess i don't skate too hard
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: bumpnrun on October 13, 2015, 09:25:24 AM
When they're coned. I heard about these new wheels called Blurrs that you can flip over.

Blurr swirls.

Will change out wheels when they flat spot, start getting small, or feel sluggish.
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: iwishilivedinfinla on October 13, 2015, 11:19:04 AM
once... maaaaaybe twice a year?
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: fulfillthedream on October 14, 2015, 07:46:41 PM
every 3-4 months
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: yatallfreak on October 14, 2015, 08:48:25 PM
If your wheels looks like this then theyre toast
https://instagram.com/p/81R8Ulm1A_/?taken-by=danebrady
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: oldgoodburger on October 14, 2015, 10:56:09 PM
Rimz
Title: Re: How do you know when your wheels are toast?
Post by: ChuckRamone on October 15, 2015, 08:40:38 AM
in the small wheels days of the 90s, some extreme people had like a quarter-inch of urethane around their bearings, and that was their "wheel." kinda crazy to think people actually skated like that compared to some people's wheel standards today.