Should I rotate wheels?

[smcgreg 81]

New to roller/inline due to pandemic.  I've skated about 10 times myself and have noticed the inside wearing more than the outside of my wheels.  My daughter has been skating pretty much everyday since lockdown and I notice hers worse. 

Should I be rotating them?  Any guidelines as to how often?

Thanks

[Vet88 673]

5 hours ago, smcgreg said:

Should I be rotating them?  Any guidelines as to how often?

Yes and they wear differently so it's not just a matter of turning them around. You need to turn them and move them around. It depends on how much you skate but I used to rotate mine weekly and this was my process:

Week 1 - keep them all in the same place but turn them around.

Week 2 - (1 is front, 4 is back) Move 1 to 3, 2 to 4, 3 to 1, 4 to 2. If you are running a HiLo setup then its 1 to 2, 3 to 4 etc.

Each subsequent week repeat 1 then 2.

Others may suggest something different but you do need to turn them at the very least otherwise the inside wears out fast and it ruins the wheel really quickly.

[smcgreg 81]

12 minutes ago, Vet88 said:

Yes and they wear differently so it's not just a matter of turning them around. You need to turn them and move them around. It depends on how much you skate but I used to rotate mine weekly and this was my process:

Week 1 - keep them all in the same place but turn them around.

Week 2 - (1 is front, 4 is back) Move 1 to 3, 2 to 4, 3 to 1, 4 to 2. If you are running a HiLo setup then its 1 to 2, 3 to 4 etc.

Each subsequent week repeat 1 then 2.

Others may suggest something different but you do need to turn them at the very least otherwise the inside wears out fast and it ruins the wheel really quickly.

So, weekly, how often were you skating? 

[mickz 107]

12 hours ago, smcgreg said:

New to roller/inline due to pandemic.  I've skated about 10 times myself and have noticed the inside wearing more than the outside of my wheels.  My daughter has been skating pretty much everyday since lockdown and I notice hers worse. 

Should I be rotating them?  Any guidelines as to how often?

Thanks

For outdoor skates I would rotate them as often as you have time for.  Having the wheels out gives you a good opportunity to clean the chassis and bearings too.

As for the rotation pattern, I do the 1 -> 2, 3 -> 4 on my Hi-Lo chassis like Vet88 has mentioned.  I also like to swap wheels between both skates in future rotations.

[Vet88 673]

23 hours ago, smcgreg said:

So, weekly, how often were you skating? 

Every day. When I was skating outdoors and even though I had 84A wheels on you could see the wear after a week. This was 1 - 2 hours a day. When I gained access to a rink I'd skate 2 - 3 hours a day most days of the week. The wear wasn't as noticeable but still there.

And +1 to what @mickz said, I forgot that part. You will place more wear on one skate generally because you tend to stop more on that one so you need to also swap them between feet. I used to do that start of every month. 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Vet88

[smcgreg 81]

Yikes, 2-3 hr per day on inlines?  yuck.  Sorry, I'm spoiled by ice.  That's a lot, but thanks for the info.

I just rotated my daughter's as she had been skating everyday for about 30 min the past couple weeks. There is quite a bit of asymmetrical wear, so, these guidelines on how to exactly rotate are very helpful. 

Thanks,

 

[hockeydad3 50]

Rotate the wheels when the highest point of the wheel is noticeable(2-3mm) off-center towards the outside of the boot. And change them from the position with higher wear to the position with lower wear. And from your dominant foot to the opposite one. Try to achieve a similar wear on all wheels regardless of a rotating pattern.