Assuming I have 99a 54.5 mm v5 bones stf wheels and I really want them to be 52 mm.
How long do I have to go full chad caruso in order to get them down to that? Is that even feasible?
I have so many wheels but they're all either 49 or 54+. Need some inbetween ones but there's no way I'm gonna buy even more wheels
A lathe is a great way to get wheels down to whatever size you want, but almost no one has access to one.
An angle grinder is way easier to get and to use, but also very easy to mess up, but it is not hard to take wheels down with one, either riding surface or reshape the sides too. Try on some older wheels first, just to get the hang of it - wheels on the board, board on its back, angle grinder working at an angle over the wheel, making the bearings scream but wearing away the urethane. Don't forget to wear a mask.
As to actually skating them down, if you find the most rough concrete surface that you can really carve across and put pressure on the wheels, like an old bowl to tear around, that is maybe the best way to wear them down naturally, but it does take a while to do it.
Also finding some decent smoothish or new road on a bit of a hill you can power slide down can also take them down a mm or so but you gotta be pretty on it and go fast and slide as far as you can without having the wheels just get eaten (flatspot) by the road surface.