Clean those skateboard bearings!

You should clean your skateboard bearings if your bearings have slowed down, seem mucky, or if they make a gravely, scraping sound when you spin your wheels. To avoid getting to this point, you should clean your bearings fairly often, even when they are just a little dirty, or just haven't been cleaned in a long time. Cleaning your skateboard bearings like this from time to time will increase your bearing's lifespan, and improve your skateboarding experience.

First, you'll want to remove your skateboard bearings. You can clean your bearings without removing them, but you won't get them very clean that way. To clean your skateboard bearings well they will need to be removed from your skateboard wheels. If you are not sure how to do that, it’s quick and easy to figure out. But just check out our other post for info on how to remove bearings.

Next you will also need some rags, towels or paper towels. This will get messy, so if you are going to clean your bearings in the living room of your house, make sure you put down a lot of towels. And, you might not want to wear your favorite white shirt or other important clothes.

Get yourself some lubricant made for ball bearings; DO NOT use WD-40, or any other lubricant like it! WD-40 and other cheaper lubricants leave behind a film that actually collects dirt and dust. When I was young and impetuous I used WD-40 on my very first set of skateboard bearings, and they were garbage in a month. The key here is to clean your bearings with a lubricant made for it, you want the bearings lubed up, but you don't want any sticky film or residue left behind.

Hold the bearing, and using your can of lube, blast them thoroughly. Aim around the edges of the bearing, try to blast into every edge and opening you can find; also be sure to flip the bearings over and clean the other side. You should notice allot of dark and blackish, dirt coming out of the bearing. This means that they were really dirty and needed to be cleaned. So don't spare the lube and just keep blasting away at them. This is why you really want a lot of rags, towels, or news papers, under your work area.

Once the lube starts to look clear of the dirt you've cleaned the bearing enough, pat them with a towel or rag to get the excess lubricant off, and set them aside. They will tend to leak fluid for a bit so you'll want to set them on some more rags or towels. Be sure to get all 8 sets of bearings (two for each wheel).

Once you are done, you can let the bearings bleed and dry out a little if you would like. However, this isn't required! Next pop these fresh and clean bearings right back into your wheels, or into a new set of skateboard wheels, and go skate!