Skateboard wheels are the most crucial part of skateboarding. Without them, your skateboard will be just only a piece of wood. The wheels provide you with acceleration and let you fly with your skateboard on different terrains.
To enjoy the true spirit of skateboarding, you must get the best skateboard wheels for your skateboard deck. You must know your skating style, which skating terrain you will use, and for how long you want to skate.
Today, the skateboard wheel market is flooded with various types of wheels. Some provide you turbo speed while others are specially designed to give you buttery rides on rugged roads.
Here, we have reviewed the top-notch skateboard wheels of all time. As we have bought and tested the wheels so you will get the most authentic detail which will help you get the most appropriate wheels for your skateboard.
Before reviewing let’s see the buying details of the best skateboard wheels. I have gathered my every experience while purchasing a pair of wheels. That’s why I have discussed briefly every minute detail of the wheel which you must need to know before buying one. This will help you to get the most appropriate wheels according to your skating style.
Our Recommendations
Bam Jam skateboard wheels
We award Bam Jam skateboard wheels as the best overall skateboard wheels. These sturdy wheels feature superpower sliding capacity and are lightweight. They give you turbo speeds and skate seamlessly on skating parks
Shark Skateboard Wheels
Furthermore, the Shark Skateboard Wheels are engineered superiorly. These wheels exhibit a grippy ride that is easy to control. In addition, their unique sine wave motion design provides seamless rides on rugged terrains.
Things To Look For In Best Skateboard Wheels—A Comprehensive Buying Guide
First of all, you need to know your skating style or which skating trick you are going to practice this week. Secondly, you need to know your skating terrain. Select the wheels for that particular trick and terrain. You can always change your wheels when you are going to perform intricate tricks on different types of terrain. This does not mean you are going to change your skateboard wheels every time you skate different maneuvers. Only if you are skating challenging and intricate tricks on rough terrains then you should be cautious about the types of wheels.
Types Of Skateboard Wheels
Here we have discussed the types of wheels according to maneuvers.
1. Street Wheels
Street wheels are usually smaller in size. They range in size from 49mm to 53mm. The smaller wheels have less weight which makes them quick and responsive. Moreover, they are also hard, having a durometer of 99A and 101A. These hard and small wheels will give less bounce and you can easily perform kickflips, heelflips, and varials. In addition, if you get more round-lipped or conical-shaped wheels, they will give you a more great experience while street skating. Furthermore, these wheels also work in skating parks or streets. You can also use street wheels for your transition skateboarding.
2. Bowl Skating Wheels
For skating in bowls, you need speed. Only the large-sized wheels can give you acceleration. That’s why the wheels ranging in diameter from 54mm to 60mm will be best for bowl skating. In addition, their contact patch will be larger to provide more grip with increased speed. Moreover, if you add the best skateboard bearings, you will be able to outperform in bowl skating.
3. Mini Ramp Wheels
In order to skate mini ramps, you need wheels that are between 54mm and 56mm in size. Moreover, for mini ramps, the wheels should be hard as well. The durometer of 97A to 101A or 84B is perfect for mini ramps. Additionally, the wheel should be conical in shape for better performance. If your mini ramp is a bit wide then you can go for bigger wheels as well. However, the smaller wheels are preferable for mini ramps but you need to exert more force with smaller wheels. Therefore, you will need a separate deck if you want to go with bigger wheels for mini ramps. Because you won’t be able to perform transition or street tricks with the same board.
4. Vert Skateboarding Wheels
For vert skating, you need wheels of large diameter with more grip. That’s why I would suggest getting wheels of 56mm to 58mm in diameter and with a larger contact patch. The hardness of 97A to 100A would do just fine while skating vert.
5. Cruising Wheels
Cruising wheels are larger in size i.e. up to 60mm with a wider contact patch to get more grip. This more grip helps you to push your skateboard easily. Moreover, these wheels are soft with a durometer range up to 78A to 90A which lets you skate smoothly on any rough terrain with fewer vibrations in your feet.
However, if you want to perform some tricks as well while cruising then you can go for some hard wheels i.e. durometer of 84mm to 86mm and a smaller sizes i.e. 56mm to 58mm.
Size of Skateboard Wheels
Skateboard wheels come in various sizes. These various sizes will then be suitable for different tricks as I discussed above. The larger wheels are suitable for cruising and commuting while smaller-sized wheels give you more acceleration and ease in performing intricate tricks.
Contact Patch
Skateboard wheels contact patch is the area of the wheel which makes contact with the road. If this area is wider, wheels will exhibit more grip. Therefore, for challenging street tricks, wheels with narrow contact patches are preferred. The less contact area will make the wheels less grippy and slide more easily. Whereas, for cruising and commuting a large contact patch is required to get more grip.
Moreover, we have discussed in detail other features of skateboard wheels including the wheel core type, wheel profile, wheel shapes, and wheel hardness in our article What Skateboard Wheels Are Made Of? If you want more detailed information, you can visit this with just one click.
The Top 11 Best Skateboard Wheels
Here we have reviewed the top skateboard wheels in detail that can give you the real skating experience and lets you perform any tricks easily. That’s why you can choose any one of them which matches your skating style.
01 Bam Jam Skateboard Wheels— Best For Powersliding
If you love power sliding and looking for smooth wheels that give you the best slides on the road, then Bam Jam is your perfect choice.
Bam Jam skateboard wheels are constructed with durable Polyurethane, which is tough and flexible at the same time. That’s why the wheels don’t wear off easily due to sliding on rails.
Moreover, these wheels are smaller in size i.e., 52 mm x 30 mm, which makes them roll with speed. Therefore, the pro skaters also use these wheels for intricate tricks, including ollie, grinds, nose pick, and switch riding. If you are a beginner and have learned some tricks and are looking to replace your wheels for some more intricate tricks, then these wheels are perfect. I also used Bam Jam when I started to learn powerslide for the first time.
If you love power sliding and looking for smooth wheels that give you the best slides on the road, then Bam Jam is your perfect choice.
Bam Jam skateboard wheels are constructed with durable Polyurethane, which is tough and flexible at the same time. That’s why the wheels don’t wear off easily due to sliding on rails.
Moreover, these wheels are smaller in size i.e., 52 mm x 30 mm, which makes them roll with speed. Therefore, the pro skaters also use these wheels for intricate tricks, including ollie, grinds, nose pick, and switch riding. If you are a beginner and have learned some tricks and are looking to replace your wheels for some more intricate tricks, then these wheels are perfect. I also used Bam Jam when I started to learn powerslide for the first time.
Furthermore, the 100A durometer hardness is hard enough to resist any wear while giving you turbo speed in your skating. If you think that this hardness makes them heavy, then you are wrong. These wheels weigh only 8 ounces, making your whole skateboard lightweight.
In addition, these sturdy and lightweight wheels enable you to skate as well as a cruise on cement parks, street parks, ramps or bowls.
The most surprising thing about these wheels is they come with sturdy red bearings of 7-ABEC precision, which lets you enjoy the precise and responsive skating rides.
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Find out: The Best Skateboard Brands of 2022
02 FREEDARE Skateboard Wheels—Best For Beginners
FREEDARE is the leading company in producing skateboard products because of its unique and innovative design. They focus on producing skating accessories that let you enjoy your every skating ride. It has produced skateboard wheels, decks, bearings, and other skateboard accessories, which are loved by every novice and professional skater.
This set of 4 FREEDARE wheels is the best option for beginners to start their skateboarding career with zeal and zest. The reason is these wheels have a perfect combination of hardness and height, which provides enhanced stability and is easy to control. These wheels exhibit 92 hardness with 52mm height. Therefore, they don’t make unpleasant vibrations and provide a balanced grip and sliding on the road. Due to the grippiness, the chances of falling reduce, making these wheels safer for beginners, and necessary sliding lets them enjoy skating thrills.
Moreover, these wheels are lightweight, allowing the novices to do their freestyle skating at optimum speed and stability. They are suitable and easy to handle on asphalt, smooth concrete, bowls, or mini ramps.
In addition, the wheels come with bearings of 22mm * 8mm, so beginners don’t need to search for appropriate bearings for Freedare wheels. You will also be free from the hectic installation of bearing and spacers in the wheels as they are already installed. All you need to do is grab the wheels and attach them to trucks, and you are ready to enjoy smooth and safer rides.
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03 LOSENKA Skateboard Wheels—Elastic And Shock Absorption
Losenka is popular due to its durable and long-lasting wheels, which give smoother rides on rough terrains. Losenka wheels have adopted a unique construction method where the urethane is processed through cold processing. This unique method makes the wheels toughest.
The Losenka wheels are 52mm in diameter x 30mm in width which makes them low-medium-sized wheels. The less contact patch provides accelerated rides.
Moreover, these wheels exhibit a durometer range of 95A, which makes them hard without compromising their elastic nature. These elastic and tough wheels are perfect for freestyle skating, dancing tricks, and other free maneuvers.
Furthermore, the Losenka wheels come with installed bearings with 9 ABEC precision. These high-precision bearings ensure smooth and vibration-free rides. I have tested these wheels on rugged terrains, and I was surprised to see these bearings’ elasticity and shock absorption capacity. If you live in the countryside, these wheels can give you dream rides on muddy roads.
There is a spacer that adjusts the wheels with the trucks that come along with the preinstalled bearings, what else do you want?
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Related Article: The 13 Best Skateboard Trucks For All Types Of Skating
04 Bones 100’s Skateboard Wheels—Best For Street Skating
When Tony Hawk joined Powell Peralta, the Powell Peralta skateboard company flourished and it started a series named Bones Brigade series. Later on, the Bones Brigade wheels became an individual brand owned by George Peralta because Tony Hawk left the company. But, the Bones remained famous among professional skateboarders. There are many other Bones wheel series, but we have brought the review of Bones 100’s. It is because they are the casual edition, still, they provide the best skating in skateparks.
They are named 100’s after their hardness which is 100A durometer. This makes them the most rigid wheels. In addition, they are made up of sturdy urethane, which is resistant and provides a bouncing back capacity to the skateboard.
Moreover, the wheels are conical in shape with a side cut and a size of 53mm x 31mm. This perfect combination of hardness, durability, size, and shape makes the wheels best for street skating. The sidecut of the wheels gets locked in the rails in the skateparks, based on my analysis of the wheels. These wheels show more grip than spitfire. Therefore, I would recommend these wheels as best for grinding and sliding on ledges and rails.
Furthermore, you can also use these wheels for other technical tricks as they provide turbo speed as well due to their less contact patch and lightweight.
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05 CCS Skateboard Wheels—Best For Cruising
If you are looking for regular as well as durable skateboard wheels on a tighter budget, then CCS wheels are the best to go with. These wheels have been in the market for the last 35 years and inspire the skaters with their unique and innovative design.
The CCS skateboard wheels are available in 52mm to 57mm width with a tweener 78A Durometer range. That’s why these wheels are soft and provide you with the best cruising rides, which makes them popular among skate filmers and cruisers. With these amazing wheels, you can also flip or pop the board without losing stability.
In addition, these responsive and swift wheels provide smoother rides on rocky terrains because the vibrations are absorbed due to the elastic nature of these wheels. But if you are skating in bowls or other smoother surfaces, they can unleash their true performance.
Due to the wheels’ more aggressive grip on rails, you cannot use these wheels in skateparks for grinding and sliding. However, these wheels are ideal to fulfill your daily quest for skating.
The thing which I like the most is their unique white color which gives my whole skateboard an elegant appearance.
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06 Ricta Clouds Skateboard Wheels—Gives Controlled Rides
Ricta wheels were founded in 2002 by Jeremy Fox and Ian Deacon. Ricta is a brand of NHS Inc. which claims to give the most futuristic and innovative styled products.
Ricta wheels are created with a high-energy urethane formula which makes these wheels sturdy and long-lasting. The 78A durometer range gives these wheels optimum smoothness. Due to these smooth wheels, you may experience the greatest controllability in your skating rides. Without exerting so much pressure, I was able to ride smoothly in my street. The skateboard was easy to slide over the road cracks.
Moreover, these wheels have a 78D core which is strong enough to provide exceptional strength while also making the ride incredibly agile. Additionally, the super grip nature makes you able to skate your board on wet terrains without slipping your board. Furthermore, these wheels are lightweight as well which provides high acceleration and lets you enjoy thunder rides.
The Ricta wheels are available in multiple sizes. You can choose large wheels up to 60mm and perform your bowl or another vert skating easily. These modern design skateboard wheels can breathe a new life into your skateboard.
On the downside, these wheels tend to stick to the ground when pressure is exerted. That’s why you can’t perform complex tricks with these wheels.
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07 Fireball Tinder Longboard Wheels—Sturdy Wheels
Fireball skateboard wheels are designed especially for longboards, cruisers, and double-kick skateboards.
These skateboard wheels are designed with modern technology so you may enjoy the smoothest skating rides. The material used for its construction is Type-B formula urethane which makes the wheels super soft.
I particularly use these wheels when I perform downhill or cruising on rough terrain. The soft urethane of 81A absorbs the vibration when wheels roll over rocks or bumps and gives you stable and buttery rides.
Moreover, the wheels are dump thane as they come with slide prepped which lets you leave your skating marks behind you on the road. The round lips gradually shatter in the wheels which helps skaters to enjoy the long slides. You can turn back and see how long the glide ride is. Additionally, these Fireballs have centerset made of urethane fiberglass. Therefore, these wheels become extra durable and strong. You can enjoy the long predictable slides with marks on roads until the wheels don’t wear off completely.
The Fireball wheels are also super cool in design which gives your whole skateboard a dazzling look. They are available in multiple colors and sizes. You can get up to a 70mm large wheel of Fireball and add it into your cruisers. Hence, you can enjoy a stylish skating ride with Fireball wheels.
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Also Check Out Our Guide: 12 Best Skating Shoes to Change Your Skating Experience
08 Shark Skateboard Wheels—Unique Wavy Design
Shark Skateboard Wheels are popular among skaters due to their unique wavy design. Due to this cool design when wheels move on the road they provide 57% less friction than any other wheels available on the market. Less friction provides accelerated speed on any terrain.
In addition, the unique wavy design tends to move the pebbles left and right by striking them at 30 degrees. Due to this sine wave angle strike, you may enjoy the smooth shock-free skating ride on rough terrains as well. The shark wheels are soft with a 78A durometer which aids in smooth gliding rides.
Another feature which flaunts me the most is their longer life span. Shark wheels stay with you 15 % longer than any skateboard wheel. Moreover, these wheels are more rebound as compared to any other wheel which gives you higher skating speeds.
Furthermore, the shark wheels are available in multiple colors, so you can choose the one which suits your skating deck. These amazing wheels are 60mm wide which makes these wheels ideal for cruising.
However, these wheels are not designed for executing complex tricks.
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09 LMAI Skateboard Wheels—Long-lasting wheels
LMAI wheels will undoubtedly provide you with a smooth and rapid ride through the streets, where you can still try off some basic tricks. Because they work effectively in all situations, these wheels are an excellent indication of the quality promise. The elements used in the creation of these skate wheels are based on the technical advice of expert skaters.
Moreover, these skateboard wheels are constructed with high-quality PU material which makes them last longer. Most skateboarders purchase a whole wheelset that includes the urethane body and bearings. However, this brand’s wheels go above and beyond with integrated bearings and spacers in the rollers. This characteristic is useful to me because spacers do not use a one-size-fits-all approach.
Additionally, the LMAI wheels come with skating tools including three sockets and a screwdriver with a removable Phillips head. The wheel nuts are made of nylon so they always stay secure and don’t get loose due to shocks. Therefore, I save time, money, and effort with these LMAI wheels.
These wheels are also adaptable to their riding environment. These wheels are constant whether riding on a smooth surface or on an asphalt road. They’re simple to use, and I’m always at ease with them.
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10 OJ Skateboard Wheels—Unique Art Design
Riding on rocky pavements got much easier for me, thanks to the OJ Skateboard Wheels. These skateboard wheels offer the perfect hardness balance for practically every skating surface, even the streets. Every cruiser or skateboarding filmer loves this brand since it is easy to ride and adaptable.
These wheels are not only smooth, but they also roll quickly. Each wheel has a strong plastic core that is responsible for bearing stability. Precision bearing positioning results in stable and quick wheel motions. Furthermore, I believe this component contributes to the steadiness of the skateboard and my rides.
Moreover, the size of these unique wheels is 56mm which is adaptable to roll in any street or park. They also work in any environment without producing much noise. Unlike other noisy and unstable wheel brands I’ve tested, they operate quietly while remaining nimble.
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11 SPORTYOUTH Skateboard Wheels—Best For Adult Skaters
Because of its size, the SPORTYOUTH Skateboard Wheels are one of my favorite wheelsets for adult skateboarders. This skateboard wheel has a 52mm diameter x 32mm width, which is large enough for me to easily glide through the streets.
SPORTYOUTH also has a durometer hardness rating of 95A, which gives enough speed in all of my rides. These are also functionally adaptable since they can traverse tiny ramps, parks, and other fine surfaces. This implies they can adapt to different environments without causing discomfort.
Moreover, these are perhaps one of the quietest wheels I own. I set them on the roadway and glided with them a few times, but I never heard any irritating noises. I tried them on harsher terrain including squares, skate bowls, U-shaped pools, and asphalt roads, yet these skate wheels remained silent the entire time.
This roller brand offers characteristics that I feel go beyond its pricing. I’ve been using these wheels for months and haven’t seen any flat spots or cuts in the contact patch. They move easily and consistently.
This product is offered in two basic color options: black and white. In addition, you also get 8 bearings and 4 spacers with a set of these 4 wheels which are already installed on the wheels. So, you don’t need to waste time on assembling.
Furthermore, the pre-built bearings have 9 ABEC ratings so the skaters may enjoy the swift skating rides.
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Also Check This Out: Top 11 Best Skateboard Grip Tapes for All Types of Skating Tricks
Final Thoughts
We have listed the best skateboard wheels of all time. As every skater dreams of skating on various terrains and executing complex tricks, they can only make their dream come true if they get the appropriate wheel for their skateboard.
Moreover, you should also consider the right size and hardness of the wheels according to your skating style. It’s best to look for such wheels which come with integrated bearings and other tools so you may save time and install the wheels easily.
FAQ’s
1. Which wheels are suitable for street skating?
Bone’s 100 are the best wheels for street skating. They have a special V-5 cut which gives a heavy grip when you skate on rails or ramps.
2. What wheels are suitable for turbo speed?
Bam Jam skateboard wheels provide swift speed to skaters. They are lightweight and come with 100A hardness which lets the wheels roll faster on the terrain.
3. Is 99a good for the street?
Wheels 96A to 99A is suitable for regular skating. They provide a good blend of traction and agility, making them an excellent choice for beginners for both street skating and flat surfaces such as skate playgrounds and ramps.
4. What type of wheels are best for new skaters?
FREEDARE skateboard wheels are suitable for novice skaters due to their 92A hardness and 52mm height. This excellent combo provides noiseless and slip-free rides so beginners can learn their basic tricks using these wheels easily.
5. Is it important which skateboard wheels you get?
Skateboard wheel size influences how swiftly you can skate and how intricate tricks you can perform. Larger wheels provide smoother, quieter, and more pleasant skating rides. They are also more suitable for commuting across rugged terrain. For sharp turns and maneuvers, smaller wheels are preferable.