Wheel Rotation

[Robebabu]

Do you rotate your wheels around? How do you go about it? I know most people probably just slide them off, and criss-cross them from L/R, front/back, so that the side facing inward is now facing out. However, I just took my old 54mm Spitfires off to clean the bearings, and forgot which ones were on which axle. So, I decided to measure them using an electronic caliper, and got these numbers:

• 52.8mm
• 53.3mm
• 53.2mm
• 52.9mm

Still pretty decent, right? Yeah, well, I guess I haven't been skating as much lately. So, they're still good, and not coned or anything terrible. Lots of life left in them. I will likely put the smaller two on my front truck, and larger two on the back. But I guess my main concern is: for each truck, on which side should I put the smaller of each pair of wheels--toe side, or heel? Not that it should make difference, but I skate regular. I'm probably more likely to speed check using my back toe than I am to powerslide on my heels. However, with most of my weight being on the heels, I'm thinking that's where the larger of each pair should go.

This is probably just a case of wheel madness, but let me know what you think. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[Mbrimson88]

Not always but more often than not, most wheels of "all rounder" type skating will wear like this:

Front toe most coning to outside edge but not so worn down overall
Front heel least worn of all, no noticeable coning
Back toe some coning to outside edge and much more wear
Back heel some coning to inside edge and also much more wear


Usually the back wears down more from speed checks, slides, reverts and the like, but as some people skate differently and have significantly different wear, there is no absolute measure with wheel wear.

Based on that I would say these were most likely your wheel positions:

52.8mm back toe
53.3mm front heel
53.2mm front toe
52.9mm back heel



This was an Instagram post from a while back, which has a little information on it too.

[Robebabu]

Thanks! That's really helpful. I appreciate your work.

[Mbrimson88]

Thanks! That's really helpful. I appreciate your work.

Happy to help!


Forgot to mention:

If you run your graphics all the same way (all in or all out) it is often easier to tell which wheel was which, but given most wheels are reversible / symmetrical sometimes you might need to have some in and some out after solid wear.

If there is not really any coning on them, it makes it easier so you can run them which ever way works, but having the front toe moved to back heel (facing outwards as it was before) is the most common thing to do, then back toe to front heel, but the front heel position gets the least wear, so sometimes the back heel can go there instead.

[Peepeeboy69]

also make sure to get them balanced every 7k miles

[Crabby_Bastard]

also make sure to get them balanced every 7k miles

This is critical for success!

[Eric Dolphy]

Do you rotate your wheels around? How do you go about it? I know most people probably just slide them off, and criss-cross them from L/R, front/back, so that the side facing inward is now facing out. However, I just took my old 54mm Spitfires off to clean the bearings, and forgot which ones were on which axle. So, I decided to measure them using an electronic caliper, and got these numbers:

• 52.8mm
• 53.3mm
• 53.2mm
• 52.9mm

Still pretty decent, right? Yeah, well, I guess I haven't been skating as much lately. So, they're still good, and not coned or anything terrible. Lots of life left in them. I will likely put the smaller two on my front truck, and larger two on the back. But I guess my main concern is: for each truck, on which side should I put the smaller of each pair of wheels--toe side, or heel? Not that it should make difference, but I skate regular. I'm probably more likely to speed check using my back toe than I am to powerslide on my heels. However, with most of my weight being on the heels, I'm thinking that's where the larger of each pair should go.

This is probably just a case of wheel madness, but let me know what you think. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

100% agree with all this