A Guide on How to Keep Your Skates Healthy
By DW Staff | April 2020
Properly maintaining your skates can dramatically extend their functional life and result in noticeable performance benefits.
We recommend performing the tune-up outlined here once every month or two or before every game. If you have a big skate day coming up, be sure to give yourself enough time to get any replacement parts you may need!
Begin with a basic visual inspection of each skate and check each component for any obvious signs of wear or malfunction. Take a close look at your boots for any signs of separation or wear and check out your plates for any cracks.
As you remove your axle nuts, you should feel some resistance. A secure nut should require a tool to remove, so if they spin freely, check their threads and nylon locking retainer. If they look worn down, replace your axle nuts to avoid losing wheels on the track!
Slide each wheel off its axle and inspect the axle itself, taking careful note of the threads. Now is a good time to hit those axles with a dry scrub to remove any build-up.
Now take a look at each wheel and check the urethane tire carefully for cracks, chunks, or flat spots. If they are dirty, clean them with an abrasive pad and soapy water. PSA: Do not use alcohol or cleaning solvents to clean your wheels! If you spot small air bubbles or a lack of tread, don't worry - both are totally normal and will not affect the wheel.
Well-maintained bearings will spin better and last longer but as the most time consuming step, cleaning bearings is often skipped and sometimes neglected completely. We laid out an easy-to-follow guide, complete with video, that you should check out below. Best of all, you are already done with the first step!
Remove the kingpin nut and then slide cushions, retainers, and trucks off of the kingpin. Visually inspect each cushion for cracks or malformations, especially around the area where the retainer rests. A cushion that has swollen out of shape or bubbled up around its retainer is not functioning at full capacity and should be replaced. This is also a sign that you may have your kingpin nut secured too tightly, in which case you should invest in firmer cushions.
Cushions are probably the hardest component to diagnose but remember that most are made of plastic or rubber and like rubber bands, they lose their elasticity over time. Your cushions should be replaced at least once per year to keep them fresh and responsive, but especially active or competitive skaters would benefit from even more.
Having already scrubbed your truck's axles free of gunk and build-up, do the same to both sides of the cushion seat where the cushions rest against the truck. If your trucks have adjustable pivot arms, check that their length is set such that they rest flush in the pivot cup. Now is also a great time to check the pivot cups themselves. Often, a visual inspection is enough to determine if it is in good condition. Check for cracks or uneven wear and replace as needed.
With the truck assemblies removed, there’s not many moving parts left on your plates. Inspect each baseplate front to back for cracks, especially around the toe stop area, and be extra vigilant! Catastrophic breaks often start as barely visible hairline cracks before repeated use makes them reach their breaking point. Kingpins should be checked to make sure they are tightly secured to the baseplate and that their threading on the other end is clean and in good condition.
Extract both toe stops and whatever mechanism secures them to the plate. Many plates have a set screw just behind the toe stop housing while others rely on a nut directly secured to the toe stop. In any case, check and clean all threading once again, including the stem of the toe stop and the housing, too. This goes a long way towards preventing runaway toe stops and damage to the plate's threading. Pro tip: an old toothbrush works wonders for cleaning stems and housings!
We saved the best (aka easiest) for last. Boots are on your feet and your feet know better than anyone else how they feel. Look closely along each stitched seam as well as where the boot connects to the outsole. If there are no obvious defects, like a hole in your toe box or a sole falling off, then when to replace your boot is up to you. Be aware that even if they still look nice, a boot’s stiffness and support does inevitably break down through time and use, so use your best judgment and keep your feet happy!
In between thorough tune-ups, you should be performing a quick examination of critical parts before you skate, every time you skate. Lost toe stops, runaway wheels, and other unfortunate mishaps are mostly avoidable with a little inspection as desribed in the video below: