Anyone else notice a change in quality of Formula Four's?

[TumKayo]

That’s good news. I had high hopes, and don’t wanna count them out from only an hour of skating each.

Some of my cheaper 99a wheels, including spitfire OG formula and Orb Specters, feel a lot more grippy, but less slidey. These 99d F4s definitely feel like park wheels, which was not what I was expecting. Kinda wish I went with the 101d now, or that Spitfire made these shapes in the 97d for more comfort.

[sbmfj]

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I thought my set of 52 FF were pretty crappy. Def not worth the hype and price!

A big chuck on the sidewall felt out, found them to be slippery as well. Def no real difference between these wheel and any other wheel ive had in the past few years.

Sent them an email to see what theyd say. I must say, I have had horrible luck with all Deluxe related products. All crap to me. Used to crack the thunder baseplates back in the day, snapped a Peter Ramondetta Real board ten years ago - the one and only I ever bought (last about 2 hours) and now the spits.

Silly me tho, asked Santa for a pair of 52 classics for Xmas. Hopefully my luck will change with this set.

Someone told me FF is better for park vs street. Im mostly a street guy. Thoughts on this?

Thanks

[close]

They definitely sort out issues.

https://www.spitfirewheels.com/guaranteed/

Did you get normal classics, not Formula Four classics?

Some people love them and some people do not, but it is just one of those things.  I have seen every brand of product work well and every brand and type of product in pieces / broken / flatspotted or wrecked over the years, so not necessarily the product at fault and not always the rider at fault either.

Chipped ones are FF classics, and the new ones are 'regular' classics (whiter wheel)

I sent them and email.

Thanks for the tip!

[Mbrimson88]

Chipped ones are FF classics, and the new ones are 'regular' classics (whiter wheel)

I sent them and email.

Thanks for the tip!

The regular formula Spitfires are more grippy once you wear off the tread / lines on the wheels when new, but are more likely to flatspot, especially when bright shiny new, compared to when they are a bit more worn in or aged and I find they last so much better.

That said, I have mostly 99 duro Formula Four on all my boards nowdays and prefer the feeling of them over everything else.

[jkadams]

Bought a set of 97a F4's, one of the wheels was defective (wobbles when spun [I tried different bearings]).  DLX sent a replacement set, and two of those were also defective/wobbly.  I don't have time to do unpaid quality control.  Spitfire is like early Hyundai now; great warranty, but who wants to spend their life in the shop?

[Firebert]

Bought a set of 97a F4's, one of the wheels was defective (wobbles when spun [I tried different bearings]).  DLX sent a replacement set, and two of those were also defective/wobbly.  I don't have time to do unpaid quality control.  Spitfire is like early Hyundai now; great warranty, but who wants to spend their life in the shop?

Let's see a pic/vid - I'm interested to see how wobbly they are.

[superleftswipebby]

had some 99d 56mm conical fulls (august 2020) and they were hella sticky. chalked it up to the sizing. eventually copped some used 99d 58mm radial fulls off depop. them joints are wider but slid better for some reason

[PrettyRicki]

Bought a set of 97a F4's, one of the wheels was defective (wobbles when spun [I tried different bearings]).  DLX sent a replacement set, and two of those were also defective/wobbly.  I don't have time to do unpaid quality control.  Spitfire is like early Hyundai now; great warranty, but who wants to spend their life in the shop?

Damn, that's a crazy experience and I can't say I've had the same experience with the 97 duro F4 wheels I'm running (53mm classic, 54mm classic, and 54mm conical full). It would be a shame if Spitfire let the quality drop because a lot of people consider them to be the best wheel in the game.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with how straight the truck axle is, how the bearings are set, or if someone uses bearing spacers or not.

[Uncle Flea]

All my conical full for the past 6 years chip on the crook side.

The radials the classics and my new of classic have been on point

[replaceable kingpin]

I always flat spotted spits and gave up on them years ago. I am digging Ricta 52mm 99's, slide nice and roll good on shitty ground for 52mm.

[flintstagram]

I had one set of spitfires f4s that has a wobble to one wheel, contacted them and they had me send them in. They sent two sets of wheels as a replacement, along with a pile of stickers. Haven’t had any issues with the half a dozen or so sets I’ve bought since then. I’m pretty sure I’ll always skate spitfire f4s. I really like the 99As. Sucks to hear anyone has been having issues.

[Boog]

I've never had issues with f4. Guess I'm just lucky.

[Mbrimson88]

Considering they make a lot, and I am talking 5000+ just arrived here before another four digit delivery earlier this year from what I heard, for Australia alone, I don't think I could even guess but would they have been making more than a million sets of wheels a year at peak before covid issues?

I would think the ratio of bad wheels is so very low compared to all the wheels with no issues out there being skated.  That is not including flat spots from user error or other non manufacturing issues (like being run over or dragged by a vehicle) but I think I have had two sets over the years that had warranty issues, in maybe a few hundred in total, probably more.

The older Spitfire wheels did flatspot a lot, but the Formula Four seem to hold up a whole lot better.  Sure some still get flatspots (any and every wheel does if they stick long enough on one point), but they are way ahead of what they were before 2013.

Combine that with an excellent warranty and service department, I think they have it pretty well covered, but there are always going to be some issues along the way, maybe more so with what is currently going on.

There is going to be another shortage soon enough, with supply of raw materials now causing production issues too, so that will be interesting to see play out.

[NowhereInLife]

not since year two when they upped the rebound ever so slightly and thus became the best wheel.

those glowy radials felt a little chalky to me at first but that went away.

and there are fakes out there, so please buy from reputable.

[oldfart]

Bought a set of 97a F4's, one of the wheels was defective (wobbles when spun [I tried different bearings]).  DLX sent a replacement set, and two of those were also defective/wobbly.  I don't have time to do unpaid quality control.  Spitfire is like early Hyundai now; great warranty, but who wants to spend their life in the shop?

same here. I just opened my 3rd defective set of classic shapes in a row. Replacement, warranty all good. But I am afraid of opening another set of wheels because I can feel it. The last wheel will be wobbly again.
What's the solution?! Buying two sets of same wheels and sort out the defective ones, keeping the good ones and just return the defective ones. Then getting a new set of wheels because of warranty. Selling that one on eBay, because one of those shitfires are going to be wobbly again?! I honestly can't take it anymore.

[Solex]

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Bought a set of 97a F4's, one of the wheels was defective (wobbles when spun [I tried different bearings]).  DLX sent a replacement set, and two of those were also defective/wobbly.  I don't have time to do unpaid quality control.  Spitfire is like early Hyundai now; great warranty, but who wants to spend their life in the shop?

[close]

same here. I just opened my 3rd defective set of classic shapes in a row. Replacement, warranty all good. But I am afraid of opening another set of wheels because I can feel it. The last wheel will be wobbly again.
What's the solution?! Buying two sets of same wheels and sort out the defective ones, keeping the good ones and just return the defective ones. Then getting a new set of wheels because of warranty. Selling that one on eBay, because one of those shitfires are going to be wobbly again?! I honestly can't take it anymore.

Mounted my first F4 set two weeks ago. The bearings were really hard to put and one wheel was wobbly. Had to mount it on the axle and tight the nut quite hard to press the bearings to the bottom in order to have a straight rolling wheel. Not the cleanest method for sure...