Are you looking for the best way to clean & maintain your roller skate bearings? Then Infinity Skating Products has the right detailed information with our 10 step-by-step method.
Buying skates is like an investment because you put so much effort into choosing the right pair, whether you opt for inline or quad skates. While every skater knows that purchasing skates is just the beginning, the real effort lies in maintaining them so that it gives you the agility and speed for years to come.
When it comes to the maintenance of your skates, it merely depends on the frequency of your skating. For instance, if you are skating 5 days a week, it’s better to clean the skates without removing the bearings. You can do this by just applying lubricant and clearing the dust and your long-term cleaning should be once every 15-20 days. This also depends on the track or the road you are practicing on.
If there is more dust on the track, then the frequency of the cleaning may be sooner, & vice versa.
As the wheels and bearings are the key components of any skates,
10 best ways to clean & maintain your roller skate bearings
To clean the roller skate wheels dismantle them from the frame, remove the bearings using a bearing puller, and keep aside. We recommend you use any soapy water to spray it on the running surfaces and start wiping them with a cloth, as most of the dust sticks to the rolling surfaces.
Take an earbud to smooth out the cleaning process. This may help you reach the nooks and crannies when you’ve got to clean the roller skate wheel chassis with space constraints.
If you have a Quad Skate bearing, the way to do is to take a cloth and rub the shaft to remove the dust. The next step is to lubricate the lock and the shaft using a lubricant spray. After you’ve completed this procedure, use a dry cloth to dry out the wheels completely.
Maintenance of the bearing is equally important to get the maximum output, which inversely affects your performance.
Inline/ Quad roller Skate bearings are usually of four types:
- 1. Steel bearings
- 2. Hybrid ceramic bearings
- 3. Full ceramic bearings
- 4. Micro hybrid ceramic bearings
If you’re looking for the right way to clean & maintain your roller skate bearings and keep them going for years to come, then you’ve come to the right place.
Infinity Skating Products is a sister concern of Asiatic Bearing Co, before we ventured into the skating products & accessories business, we are the pioneers of the bearing business for three decades & currently running. This just goes to show that the methods and processes that we’ve shared are authentic and bound to help you improve the overall efficiency, smoothness, and speed of your roller skates.
Here’s what you will need to clean & maintain your roller skate bearing:
- A flat surface
- A bearing puller or Alen Key
- A Pin
- Cleaning fluids (petrol /kerosine/diesel/alcohol)
- Special Bearing cleaning bottle / disposable container
- Towel/ Cloth/ Wipes
- Lubricant spray
The real question you may ask is
How do I know when to clean my roller skate bearings?
Well, a lot of skaters aren’t aware of how they should check when their skates require maintenance or the bearings require cleaning.
The frank answer is that when you hear a squeaky sound, or when you are skating on the track you realise that your skating has become rougher, it’s not smooth enough, not fast enough and there are dust particles that make the entire skating experience poor.
The best way to do this is to pull out your skates, rotate the wheels, and listen to it. If there is a disturbance of bearings not being able to move freely you would need to check them up
Worry not, because if you maintain them, clean them, and lubricate them at the right time will help you reverse the damage.
Now that you know how to check when your skate bearing requires maintenance. Here’s how to clean & maintain your roller skate bearings
Step 1: Gather all your tools
Set up your workstation, get your cleaning towels, and all the items that we’ve mentioned in the What you’ll Need section. Since this process is messy ensure you have enough towels, wipes, and disposable containers. We suggest that you set this up because you don’t want to miss the flow that you’re in and this helps keep the process super organised.
Step 2: Remove the wheels & bearings
To clean your bearings you need to pull them out of the wheels. We recommend using the right tools like a bearing puller for Quad bearings or an Alen key for inline skates as it makes it safer to remove bearings without disturbing or damaging the bearing. If you don’t have the right tools you may damage the spacers and the bearing instead.
Step 3: Open the seals
In this step, you’ll notice the amount of dirt, dust, and residue on the outer bearing shield when you are trying to clean & maintain your roller skate bearings. After you clean the outer shields. Use a pin to pop the inner shields to expose the balls, this is the place where most grime is collected. It’s easier to use a pin to pip out the shields in the rubber bearing than in a two-way steel shield bearing which can get slightly difficult to clean.
You can rotate the bearings to see if they’re still efficient, if you don’t see any progress with the rotation, you may need new bearings.
Step 4: Dip your bearings & shield in cleaning liquid
Keep your bearings ready and a disposable container or a bottle with 60% kerosine/petrol/alcohol/diesel. You just need an inch or more of this liquid, just enough to submerge the bearings. You can swirl the bearings around from side to after you leave them resting in the container for at least 30 minutes. Repeat the same process for cleaning the shields in another container but dip them for only a minute, just be extra careful not to bend them.
Step 5: Drying out your bearings
This process is equally important, we recommend that you use a towel to dry out your bearings and the shields. You can also dry these out in the sun. Only once everything is dry should you proceed with Step 6.
Step 6: Cleaning out the dust particles
Once you’re done with the drying process hold your bearing on the sides with the ball side facing downwards & tap them on a towel to remove excess liquid & minute dust particles.
Step 6: Lubrication
Lubrication is essential for the smoothness, longevity and performance for your bearings. We recommend putting 1 drop of speed oil or lubricant spray facing the inside of the wheel which may prevent the exposure to dust particles.
Ensure that you don’t over-lube the bearings as they may drop performance if there is excess liquid.
It is recommended to leave your bearings for a few hours for them to dry.
Step 7: Use products that are designed for specific bearings
Most skaters make this mistake when they think using WD40 or Zoric will make their bearing performance smooth. These are temporary solutions but the chemicals in these products rust the bearings sooner.
There are a few lubricant sprays that are particular to cleaning bearings & ceramic bearings.
Step 8: Re-install the seals onto the bearings
Take the dried seals and place them onto the bearings and you’ll get a minute snapping sound which confirms that the seals are fixed.
Step 9: Install the bearings back onto your wheels
Make sure to use the right equipment to install them in case of quad wheels it’s better to use a bearing puller to install the bearings.
if you have inline skates then you can either use a special Alen key which has a bearing puller provision Which helps you install them and remove them safely.
Step 10: Your wheels are ready to roll
Well, congratulate yourself on completing every step to improve your bearings performance. You will notice that your skating wheels performance has become better & smoother.
Products that are recommended from our side
Bearing puller for Quad Skates
This tool helps reinstall the bearing back onto the wheels, any damage to the bearing may cause it to underperform. We’ve seen parents/coaches use a screwdriver, which we don’t recommend as it damages the bearing. Think of this tool as a long term investment in your skating journey.
Alen Key for inline wheels
Even though removing bearings are much easier in inline wheels since the thickness is very minimal. We recommend that you use Alen Key which has a bearing puller that is designed to remove bearings correctly without damaging the wheels.
Aluminium Spacers
A lot of skaters are unaware that there is an aluminium spacer placed between both the bearings that is meant to equally distribute the load between the bearings. What people don’t know or aren’t aware about is that there are different kind of spacers for practice wheels, but for professional skating wheels, there are different type of spacers designed for better performance. Even the axil screws play an important role so if you want to go deep into that we have made a detailed blog about the same. These spacers and axil screws can be customized according to your needs as well. Infinity skating products has custom made high performance equipment & accessories that can 10x your skating performance
We hope that this detailed blog post has helped you understand the step-by-step process to clean & maintain your roller skate bearings to improve your movement on the track.
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