How to Clean Your Bearings

Keeping your bearings clean helps them roll smoother and last longer. How often you need to clean them really depends on how much you skate and where you skate.

How often? If you mostly skate indoors, every 2–3 months is usually a good place to start. If you skate a lot, check them about once a month. Outdoor skaters will probably need to clean them more often because dirt, dust, sand and all the other lovely outdoor stuff gets in there.

Don't worry too much about sticking to a schedule. If your bearings are getting loud, feel gritty, aren't spinning like they used to or you can see dirt and debris, it's probably time to give them a bath. If they get wet, clean and dry them ASAP to help prevent rust.

What You'll Need

Bearing cleaning kit (we recommend Sonic Sports or Monkey Loob), bearing-safe cleaner or 90%+ isopropyl alcohol, skate bearing lubricant, a clean towel and bearing pull/press.

Let's Clean Them

1. Take everything apart. Remove your wheels and pop the bearings out. If your bearings have removable rubber shields, carefully take those off too. Don't force shields that aren't meant to come off.

2. Load your cleaning kit. Put the bearings on the cleaning rod with the spacers in between, then add your bearing cleaner or 90%+ isopropyl alcohol or other cleaning solution.

3. Shake 'em up. Close the container and give it a good shake to work all that dirt, old lubricant and general grossness out of there. If they're extra dirty, let them sit for a little bit and give them another shake. (If you want to clean your wheels this would be a good time to do it! Do not use alcohol on wheels, instead soap and water and dry thoroughly!)

4. Let them DRY. Take the bearings out and set them on a clean towel. Let them dry completely before you do anything else. 

5. Lube them up. Once they're completely dry, add 1–2 small drops of skate bearing lubricant to each bearing. Give each one a spin to work the lubricant through. More isn't better here. Too much lube just gives dirt more stuff to stick to.

6. Put it all back together. Replace the shields, pop the bearings back into your wheels and put your wheels back on your skates. Since you've already got everything apart, this is also a perfect time to rotate your wheels.

A Few Things to Remember

Don't clean your bearings with water. Water + bearings = rust, and nobody wants that.

Stick with an actual skate bearing lubricant.

If you skate outside, around sand or in dirty conditions, your bearings are going to need a little more love, more often.

And sometimes a bearing is just done. If it's still crunchy, rough, seized up or spinning like garbage after a good cleaning and lubrication, it's probably time to replace it!