How to Look After Your Skateboard: Maintenance Guide
Most skateboards do not break. They get slowly worse until the rider assumes they have stopped progressing, when what has actually happened is that the bearings are full of grit, the wheels have coned, and the trucks have loosened off half a turn.
Fifteen minutes of maintenance a month keeps a board feeling like it did on day one and makes every consumable last considerably longer. Here is what to do and when.
The short version
- Every few sessions: check the axle nuts and kingpin. They back off, and a loose axle nut kills a bearing.
- Every 4 to 6 weeks: rotate the wheels diagonally.
- Every 2 to 3 months: clean and re-lubricate the bearings. Sooner if they got wet.
- Every session, with your eyes: look at the tail and the truck bolts.
- Once a season: strip it, clean everything, rebuild it.
- After any rain: deal with it that day, not next weekend.
- The one tool you need: a skate T-tool. Around $10 and it does everything on this page.
What we cover
Maintenance schedule · Cleaning bearings · Truck tightness · Rotating and replacing wheels · When the deck is done · Grip tape · Riding in the wet · Tools · FAQ
What is the maintenance schedule for a skateboard?
| Task | How often | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Check axle nuts and kingpin | Every few sessions | They vibrate loose. A loose axle nut lets the bearing move and destroys it |
| Visual check of tail and truck bolts | Every session | Razor tail and stress cracks both start small and are cheap to catch early |
| Rotate wheels | Every 4 to 6 weeks | Wheels cone unevenly. Rotating buys you significantly more life per set |
| Clean and re-lubricate bearings | Every 2 to 3 months | Grit plus old lubricant becomes grinding paste |
| Check bushings | Every couple of months | Cracked bushings make the board turn unpredictably and feel vague |
| Replace grip tape | When it stops gripping | Polished grip is how most slips happen |
| Full strip and rebuild | Once a season | Catches everything above at once and resets the feel of the board |
How do you clean skateboard bearings?
This is the single highest-value thing on this page. Clean bearings are the difference between a board that rolls and a board that fights you, and most people replace bearings that only needed twenty minutes of attention.
- Undo the axle nuts and slide the wheels off. Keep the speed washers together, there are two per wheel and they matter.
- Pry the bearings out by sliding a wheel half onto the axle so one bearing catches, then levering the wheel outward. Do both sides of each wheel.
- Take the shields off. Rubber shields lift out with a pin or a knife point at the inner edge. Metal shields are usually not removable, which is one reason rubber-shielded bearings are easier to live with.
- Soak the bearings in a solvent and agitate them. Anything that cuts grease and evaporates cleanly works. Do not use water.
- Dry them completely. This step is where people ruin bearings. Any moisture left inside rusts the races within days.
- Lubricate lightly. Two or three drops per bearing. More is not better and attracts dirt.
- Refit the shields, press the bearings back into the wheels, and reassemble with the washers in the right order.
Do the whole set at once. It takes about twenty minutes and it is the cheapest performance upgrade available to a skateboard.
How tight should your trucks be?
There is no universal setting, but there is a correct starting point. Tighten the kingpin nut until the hanger has no vertical play, then adjust from there a quarter turn at a time.
- Tighter: more stable at speed, more predictable on landings, harder to turn. Suits transition, bigger setups and anyone getting speed wobbles.
- Looser: turns and carves easily, better for cruising and street lines. Risks wheel bite, and past a point it introduces speed wobbles rather than curing them.
If the board turns but feels vague and mushy, that is usually bushings rather than kingpin tension. Bushings are $6 to $15 and are the cheapest way to genuinely change how a board rides.
How do you rotate skateboard wheels, and when do you replace them?
Wheels do not wear evenly. Most people push with the same foot and slide in the same direction, so wheels develop a taper called coning, usually worse on the inside edge.
Rotate diagonally every 4 to 6 weeks. Front left swaps with back right, front right swaps with back left. Flip each wheel while you are there so the worn side faces the other way. It costs you five minutes and adds weeks to a set.
Replace them when:
- They have coned into an obvious taper and the board pulls to one side
- They have flat spots from locked-up slides, which you feel as a regular thud at speed
- They are worn below roughly 48mm, where you lose roll speed and start catching on everything
A new set runs $55 to $85. Coned wheels are the most common reason a setup suddenly feels wrong for no obvious reason.
How do you know when a deck is finished?
Decks die in three ways, and only one of them is dramatic.
Razor tail. The tail wears down against the ground until it is a sharp edge. It is the most common way a deck ends, it changes how the board pops long before it looks bad, and it is a genuine cut hazard on your hands and shins. Do not ride it out.
Stress cracks. Look at the top of the board around the truck bolts, and along the sides at the nose and tail. Cracks radiating from the bolt holes mean the plies have started separating and the board is on borrowed time.
Dead pop. The board still looks fine but no longer springs off the tail. This is the maple compressing over time and it is not repairable. A committed street skater might see this in a month, someone cruising might get a year or more.
Decks run $90 to $180. If the trucks, wheels and bearings are healthy, you replace just the deck and keep everything else.
How do you look after grip tape?
Grip tape is a consumable, not a permanent surface. It polishes smooth where your feet sit, and polished grip is how most people slip.
You can extend it. A grip gum or a clean rubber eraser lifts most embedded dirt, and brushing loose grit off after a dusty session helps more than people expect. But once the texture is genuinely gone, replace it. A sheet is $12 to $25 and grips one deck.
If you are replacing grip anyway, do it at the same time as a deck swap. Trying to peel and reuse grip is a false economy.
What does skating in the wet actually do?
This matters more in Melbourne than most places, because the rain arrives without warning and the ride home happens regardless.
Bearings. Steel bearings rust. It does not take long and it is not reversible once the races pit. This is the real damage.
The deck. Maple absorbs water, the plies swell, and the board goes soggy and loses pop. A single wet ride is survivable. A habit is not.
Grip tape. Water gets under the edges and lifts it, and wet grip is slick.
If you get caught out: dry the board with a cloth, spin the wheels hard to throw water out of the bearings, then pull the bearings and re-lubricate them the same day. The difference between doing that on the night and doing it next weekend is usually a new set of bearings.
What tools do you actually need?
A skate T-tool covers everything on this page. It has the axle nut socket, the kingpin socket, the hardware socket and a screwdriver. Around $10 and it lives in a bag.
Beyond that you need almost nothing: a rag, a solvent for bearings, and bearing lubricant. Everything else is optional.
Skateboard maintenance FAQ
How often should you clean skateboard bearings?
Every two to three months if you skate regularly, and immediately after any ride in the wet. Grit and moisture turn the lubricant into a grinding paste that wears the races out from the inside. A clean is free. A new set is $22 to $80.
How tight should skateboard trucks be?
Tighten the kingpin nut until the hanger has no vertical play, then adjust a quarter turn at a time from there. Tighter is more stable at speed and harder to turn. Looser turns easily but risks wheel bite and speed wobbles.
Can you skate a skateboard in the rain?
You can, but it costs you. Water rusts steel bearings, swells the maple core, and lifts grip tape. If you get caught out, dry the board immediately, spin the water out of the bearings and re-lubricate them the same day rather than the next weekend.
When should you replace skateboard wheels?
Replace them when they cone into a taper on one side, develop flat spots from locked-up slides, or wear below roughly 48mm. Coned wheels make the board pull to one side and are the most common reason a setup suddenly feels wrong.
How do you know when a skateboard deck is worn out?
Three signs: razor tail where the tail has worn to a sharp edge, stress cracks radiating from the truck bolts, and dead pop where the board no longer springs off the tail. Razor tail is also a genuine cut hazard, so do not ride it out.
Do you need to rotate skateboard wheels?
Yes, every four to six weeks of regular skating. Wheels wear unevenly because most people slide and push in one direction. Swap them diagonally, front left to back right and front right to back left, and you will get noticeably more life out of a set.
If you would rather we did it
Bring the board into 435A Bridge Road, Richmond and we will look at it with you. Half the time the fix is a quarter turn on a kingpin and it costs nothing. We would rather do that than sell you parts you do not need, and nobody on our floor works on commission.
Free shipping Australia wide on orders over $90. Call 03 9421 2293 if you want to check something before you come in.
Keep reading: How to Choose a Skateboard · What Size Skateboard Do You Need? · How Much Does a Skateboard Cost? · How to Choose a Longboard, Cruiser or Surf Skate · All Skate Guides
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