How to Choose the Right Skateboard Wheels

Choosing the right skateboard wheels is an important part of the process associated with buying a skateboard. Wheels come in a plethora of colors, shapes, sizes, and hardness. When you browse through skateboard wheels you will notice they have two specifications: diameter and durometer. This is the size and hardness, respectively, of the wheel. Diameter is measured in millimeter while hardness is measured in A-scale, the lower the number means the softer the wheel; 75a is softer than 100a.

Most skateboarders feel comfortable with a wheel between 50 to 52 millimeters in diameter. To figure out which wheel will suit you best, we need to determine what type of skateboarding you prefer. There are a few categories that skateboarders fall into in terms of what they prefer to skate, and those categories are: transition or vert skating, street or technical skating, or a combination of the both.

For those that enjoy transition or vert skating (skating the half pipes and ramps) you will most definitely want to get a larger wheel for speed and durability. Ideally you want to go with someone between 55-65 millimeters in diameter. I would recommend going with something in the middle and then adjusting to a smaller or larger wheel if you feel it is necessary. As far as the hardness of the wheel, I would stick with anything between 95-100a.

If you are a street skater and like the technical aspect of skateboarding, you will want to go with smaller wheels. The smaller the wheels, the easier board control becomes, which we all know lets us do tricks more consistently. Also, smaller wheels make it so the board is closer to the ground which lets us pop the board up to maximum height.

You will generally want to go with a hardness of 95-101a. I'd recommend going on the softer side if you skate in a city because there is a lot of stuff in the streets that obstructs harder wheels and makes it harder to gain speed. Go with harder wheels if you have clean streets and a nice solid place to skate.

Some people prefer both street and vert skateboarding, and this is fine too. If this is the case you want to go with a wheel between 54-60 millimeters in diameter and a hardness of 95-100a. By sticking to a decent sized wheel and a moderately hard wheel, we get a nice balance of speed and balance.

Once you are done choosing a wheel that suits your style, we can move on to getting to know the other parts of the skateboard.