When your skateboard bearings aren’t spinning as fast as they used to or seem to be binding up, that means it’s time to lubricate them. With many of us growing up around parents who used WD-40 as the “do-it-all lubricant,” it seems like the natural first choice to free up your skateboard bearings. But, unfortunately, WD-40 is something you want to avoid when lubricating your bearings, and here’s why.
You should never use WD-40 to lubricate skateboard bearings since it will dry out the bearings and eliminate any lubrication inside of them. This, in turn, makes the bearing more likely to rust and bind. Instead, you need to use a synthetic lubricant such as Bones Speed Cream or Tri flow.
To better understand why WD-40 isn’t the right thing to use for lubing bearings, let’s take a deeper look at WD-40 vs. synthetic lubricants for skateboard bearings. Later in this post, I’ll also share how to lubricate your bearings with the proper lubricants to keep your board rolling fast and smooth.
Let’s get started!
Why Is WD-40 Bad For Skateboard Bearings?
WD-40 is technically not a lubricant and is instead a grease and rust remover. This makes it great for unbinding rusted bolts or creaky door hinges, but its effects aren’t as beneficial for skateboard bearings.
Since WD-40 does a great job at preventing rust, it does so by dispersing water and moisture from the area it’s sprayed. That means that when sprayed into a skateboard bearing, it will eliminate any trace of lubricant left in the bearing and leave it dry as a bone.
Unfortunately, skateboard bearings need to be well lubricated to run smoothly. If they’re too dry, excess friction is built up between the bearing balls and the races, which severely impacts the performance of the bearing. Mix a bit of dust and dirt into the mix, and a dry bearing is far more likely to cease up or even explode while you’re skating.
And a blown-out bearing means a one-way ticket straight to the ground.
So to avoid this catastrophe during your next skate session, avoiding WD-40 is the best thing you can do. Instead, opt for a synthetic lubricant.
Synthetic Lubricants Vs WD-40 For Skateboarding Bearings
Synthetic lubricants have naturally slippery properties when applied. Better yet, this lubricant creates a protective layer around the area it’s applied to protect it from water and other moisture. Over time this layer does begin to fade away, but for the most part, it keeps your skateboard bearings safe from rust while reducing friction within the bearing.
Now compare that to WD-40, which eliminates moisture and eventually dries out your bearing, you can see which is more advantageous to use on your skateboard.
Best WD-40 Alternatives For Lubricating Skateboard Bearings
– Bones Speed Cream
Bones Speed Cream is one of the most popular and reputable skateboard bearing lubricants. Since skateboard bearings are constantly exposed to dust, dirt, moisture, and constantly changing loads, Bones Speed Cream helps keep them running smoothly through all of it. I’ve used this lubricant exclusively over the last decade of skateboarding, and it always has helped make my bearings spin faster.
Compared to WD-40, this synthetic lubricant creates a thin film that covers the bearing balls and races to reduce friction and wick away dust and moisture. This lubricant tends to be longer-lasting than Teflon lubricants (such as tri flow) and should be the first choice for lubricating your skateboard bearings.
– Tri Flow Lubricant With Teflon
If, for whatever reason, you don’t want to use Bones Speed Cream (although it’s the best option), Tri Flow’s Teflon Lubricant does a decent job at lubing skateboard bearings as well. Compared to Bones Speed Cream, the only downside is that it doesn’t seem to last as long from my experience. However, I have used this lubricant for my bike and rock climbing equipment too, and it does a great job to get things running smoothly again. It beats out WD-40 by a mile but is still inferior to Bones Speed Cream for skateboard bearings.
How To Lubricate Skateboard Bearings
Once you have your synthetic lubricant of choice, now it’s time to put it to use. Following the steps below, you can lubricate all the bearings on your skateboard within a few minutes.
Step 1: Using a skate tool or a 1/2″ socket, undo the axle nuts from all four wheels to remove the wheels from the trucks.
Step 2: With a blade or thumbtack, lift off the shield of every skateboard bearings to reveal the inside. Place the shields in a safe place, so you don’t lose them.
Step 3: Take your synthetic lubricant of choice and add 3-4 drops of lubricant around each bearing.
Step 4: Pinching the inner bearing races on either side of your wheel, slowly rotate the wheel/bearings to spread around the lubricant.
Step 5: Place the shields back onto the bearings by pressing them into place with your fingers.
Step 6: Using the skate tool or a 1/2″ socket from before, attach your wheels back onto the trucks and secure them into place with the axle nut.
For a deeper clean of your bearings along with lubrication, check out this video below.
How Often Should You Lubricate Your Bearings?
The amount you lubricate your bearings depends on how often you’re skating. For someone skating multiple days a week, it’s a good idea to lubricate your bearings every month or two. However, if you’ve been skating at a dusty skate spot you found, lubricating your bearings sooner would be a good idea.
In most cases, your bearings will feel slower than they used to, which indicates they are getting dry or filled with excess debris. However, after lubricating your bearings, they will roll noticeably smoother and be able to hold speed for longer.
When Is It Time To Replace Your Skateboard Bearings?
If you haven’t touched your skateboard in a while and you’re not sure if it’s time to get new bearings rather than lubricate them, here are a few telling signs to look for.
- Rust overtaking the bearing balls and races
- The bearing cannot spin freely/seems to be binding
- The bearing shields or bearing balls have fallen out
In any of these cases, getting new bearings will offer a far better improvement than lubricating or cleaning ever will. You can find a handful of awesome skateboard bearings to consider here.
So as convenient as WD-40 would be to use on your skateboard bearings, it’s unfortunately not the best idea if you want your bearings to last. Rather than risking dried-out bearings that could seize up or even explode while you’re skating, opt for a synthetic lubricant like Bones Speed Cream to keep your wheels running smoothly.
Happy Shredding!
Brendan 🙂
