You’ve got a new set of skateboard wheels and you can’t wait to slap them on your trucks. So, you didn’t sleep overnight just to try it on. The following morning you take it out for a spin and you’re totally underwhelmed by its performance. You try it out for several more weeks and their performance went from bad to worse. What could be wrong?

But before you take your skateboard wheels back, let us help you out with some tips first. There are some things that you need to understand about these wheels, so we recommend that you read this article first.

One of the most common problems that skaters face when dealing with skateboard wheels is flat spotting. If you find after a few weeks or even just days of using your wheels that they’ve already flat spotted, it could be because of one of a few things.

First is that you probably worked your wheels too hard. By that we mean that you’ve probably made one too many power slides with them. Your wheels will definitely suffer from that and will show signs of wear eventually, faster if your wheels are particularly soft. Also, don’t be sold too much on what wheel manufacturers say when they promise that their wheels will never flat spot. The truth is that you can only make wheels too tough and they will eventually wear out over time. So, if you want to power slide often, we suggest that you buy tougher and more specialized wheels for them to be more resistant to flat spotting.

Aside from power sliding, the material that your wheels are made of can affect your performance too. So, when you’re shopping for skateboard wheels, we recommend that you only buy ones that are made of urethane. This material brings the balance between control and speed on your skateboard, while being a lot more resistant to wear and tear than other types of wheels such as metal or clay.

In addition, we suggest that you look into the clearance between your wheels and the deck. This is especially the case if you bought new wheels that are significantly larger than your old ones. Buying wheels with bigger diameter could shorten the space between the surfaces of the wheel and the deck, causing a wheel bite whenever you land. In that case, you could choose to use risers between your trucks and your deck to provide more clearance to the wheel and thus avoid wheel bite. If that’s not an option, then, you should probably return to a smaller set of wheels.

Once again, don’t take your new set of skateboard wheels just yet when you find something wrong with it. The truth is that it probably doesn’t have anything to do with the wheels. Check out some of the things you do that could be affecting their performance. Also, see if you installed your wheels correctly. These will help you get away from the frustration of finding a ‘flawed’ set of wheels.