How to Grease Your Skateboard Wheel Bearings

Skateboard maintenance is important no matter how often or how serious you skate. Learning how to grease the wheel bearings of your skateboard is one of the simplest but most important steps in skateboard care. It’s as important as cleaning your grip tape or replacing chipped wheels. Once you learn how and why to do it, greasing the bearings will become a normal part of your skateboard maintenance routine.

Here is what you need to know about how to grease your skateboard wheel bearings.

Why Grease the Bearings

It’s important to grease the bearings to keep your wheels turning smoothly. This is important for safety and for enjoyment of your ride and tricks. You don’t want your wheels to lock up on you while trying to ride or perform tricks. Grease will keep them loose and rolling smoothly.

It’s also important because it will help to extend the life of your bearings and wheels. When you take care of them, they will last longer, saving you money. Bearings are key to your skateboard wheel movement and they need to be in smooth working order for your wheels to work properly.

How to Grease the Bearings

You probably already have all of the things you need to grease your bearings, which is a good thing because it’s easy and cheap to maintain your skateboard. You can buy bearing grease at your local skate shop, sporting goods store or an automotive shop.

Make sure you bring some paper towels or old rags and then place your skateboard deck down on a flat surface. Use your skateboard tool to remove the wheels from the front and back of the board. Once you remove them, exposing the bearings, use a paper towel to wipe them down.

Now use another paper towel or old rag to pick up some grease and wipe it onto both sides of the bearing liberally. You can’t really grease it too much so feel free to add more. Then replace the wheels and use the skateboard tool to secure them back onto the trucks.

If you spin the wheels, they should spin freely if you have greased the wheel bearings properly.