Skateboarding: Hard VS Soft Wheels Explained

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Skateboard wheel specifications are a bit confusing when you just get into the sport. There are so many wheels and it’s quite intimidating when going through all the options. If you don’t know the difference between hard and soft wheels, or more specifically, what type of wheel you need when you want to get your first board, you’ve come to the right place.

Soft skateboard wheels are suitable for cruising and a comfortable ride. They don’t excel at tricks because they bounce a lot and stick to the surface. They deal better with small objects and rough roads. Hard wheels are more for skateboarders that like to perform technical tricks, but not suitable for cruising.

I’m going to explain exactly what it means; under which circumstances you want hard wheels, when medium wheels are applicable, and when to ride softer wheels.

Difference Between Soft & Hard Wheels

The rule of thumb is that softer wheels are for cruising and longboarders, hard wheels for doing technical tricks.

Let’s say you just got into skateboarding but don’t want to do any tricks. You might consider a bit cruising, hopping a few curbs, or maybe commuting on campus.

In this case, you’ll need a set of soft wheels, because hard wheels aren’t made for cruising. Hard wheels make a lot of noise and vibrate a lot, not to mention you’ll have a hard time maintaining speed. 

Are you’re interested in learning how to ollie, do some stationary kickflips, or basic beginner tricks? Go with harder skateboard wheels. Soft wheels aren’t made for this.

There are even wheels that are more balanced and deal with all sorts of surfaces, but there is no wheel that’s great for both cruising and tricks.

One thing I need to address is quality, don’t cheap out on wheels! Go for a reputable brand like Bones or Spitfire. Sure they are a bit more expensive but they will last you a long time. Cheap wheels will flat spot and need to be replaced sooner than quality wheels.

Here’s a comparison table that should give you some guidance:

Skateboarding Style	Recommended Hardness	Recommended Durometer	Recommended Diameter
Skateparks	Hard	99A+	52mm – 54mm
Bowl & Transition	Medium / Hard	97A – 104A (84B)	55mm – 58mm
Cruising & Commuting	Soft	78A – 87A	56mm – 65mm
Street Skating	Medium	92A – 99A	51mm – 54mm
Flat Ground Skating	Hard	101A – 104A	50mm – 53mm
Beginner	Medium / Hard	92A – 99A	54mm – 55mm

Soft Skateboard Wheels

Wheels are considered soft between Durometer 77A and 87A. Softer wheels are great for cruising around and comfy rides. Longboarders and cruisers often ride big and soft wheels. It requires less effort to push and it’s easier to maintain speed.

If you aren’t interested in doing technical street tricks this is the hardness scale you should look for. I’ll go into the Durometer scale at the end of this post. It’s not very complicated.

Softer wheels are safer to ride as they don’t have any issues with small rocks, cracks, or anything that your board runs into. Harder wheels tend to block when you encounter an object, resulting in you flying off your board. It’s part of the game, we’ve all been there and it will happen again.

Soft wheels aren’t suitable for skate parks and transition skateboarding.  If you try to push your board in a mini ramp you’ll have a hard time gaining speed and balance. It just requires a lot of effort due to surface friction.

This also means less balance because if you push your board like a madman, it’s hard to focus on your target (50-50’s on a coping for example). They sort of stick to the surface, unlike hard wheels.

Cons of soft wheels:

• More likely to flat spot
• More bouncy harder to land tricks on
• Not for technical stuff

Pros of soft wheels:

• Great cruising experience
• Less effort when pushing
• Maintain speed

Hard Skateboard Wheels

You could say that hard wheels are in between Durometer 96A (arguably) and 104A (84B). The hardest wheels are often used by experienced and professional street skaters.

Skateboard wheels between 96A and 100A is fine for regular street skaters, a safe choice would be 99A. Pro skaters for often skate wheels between 100A and 84B (104A).

Very hard means they are not comfortable skateboard wheels for rough roads, they also tend to slide on slick surfaces. It requires more effort to push your board and make a lot of noise depending on the surface.

Hard skateboard wheels are easier to power slide helpts to slide out of tricks. Thy are great for rotational flips and slide tricks like board slides. It’s also easier to pivot and correct your stance when landing slightly out of balance because your wheels won’t stick to the surface.

A beginner would have more issues balancing on a board with extremely hard wheels. Anything between 95A and 99A is a safe choice if you’re new to skateboarding.

Pros of hard skateboard wheels:

• Great for technical stuff
• Less likely to bounce in an unpredictable way
• Faster acceleration on smooth surfaces
• More control in closed spaces
• Less likely to flat spot depending on the polyurethane quality

Cons of hard skateboard wheels:

• Uncomfortable for longer rides
• Lots of noise and vibration on rough surfaces
• Less suitable for beginners

Medium-hard Wheels

Bones offers wheels that perform under many circumstances. They won’t excel at anything but are a safe choice when you’re not sure if you want to be a dedicated street skater or skate transition (parks, mini-ramps, bowls).

Check for Bones ATF (all-terrain formula) but the size is up to you, 53 or 54mm is usually a safe choice. A friend of mine has no issues riding them on the street, grinding a couple of rails, kicking a bunch of flips and then goes back into the bowl again.

Wheel Size and Hardness

Wheel size isn’t about hardness they do have some correlation. Larger wheels accelerate slower but are better at maintaining speed. So for you cruisers out there, get large soft wheels between 60mm and 70mm and pick Durometer 78A to 87A.  Make sure they fit the board, anything above 60mm often requires riser pads.

Smaller wheels accelerate faster, often used for technical tricks. Larger wheels get stuck behind ledges and rails and make it harder to land a trick.

Note that Spitfire Wheels rate their wheels with D, this is not the D-scale but stands for durometer. 99D Spitfire skateboard wheels are the same as 99A skateboard wheels.

Durometer Scale A and B

The durometer scale was invented by Albert Ferdinand Shore. It’s a way to determine the hardness of materials. Most wheel brands use the Durometer A scale and officially it only goes up to 100.

There are scales beyond that since the A-scale is limited but not all brands follow the official scale. Some brands make use of the B-scale to accurately describe the hardness beyond 100A.

Sometimes you see Wheels with durometer 101A or even 104A, this is inaccurate. You can subtract 20 points and it would come down to Durometer 81B and 84B, it really is that simple.

if you’re looking to cruise and just want to learn to ride with confidence consider wheels lower on the durometer scale. For example, 78A wheels will give you a butter smooth ride but bouncy when hopping curbs. 87A wheels still give a smooth ride but will bounce less.

Rebound and Bounce

There’s more to it than just the hardness of a wheel. Rebound or bounce means how fast a wheel gets back into its original shape when it bounces off the ground. Wheels are made of polyurethane and some formulas are vastly superior to others. 

Bones and Spitfire, for example, have perfected their formula resulting in high-quality wheels that bounce back into shape in no time.

Some wheels hardly rebound, it’s a sign of lower quality urethane. This isn’t something you can see from just looking at wheels, you actually need to drop them en see how they bounce. If they hardly bounce, it often means bad quality polyurethane.

Urethane Quality

Not all skateboard wheels are equal even though they are the same size and or hardness. The formula used to make the plastic mixture (polyurethane) differs a lot. A skateboard wheel with a higher quality urethane will be more durability and be less likely to flat spot. They also snap back into shape much quikers (rebound as aforementioned).

You can really feel the difference between 99A Spitfires and 99A no brand blank wheels, even though they are supposed to be the hardness. Spitfires just give a much smoother feeling which also boosts confidence, reliable wheels make skateboarding easier. You can’t tell the quality by just looking at a skateboard wheels so go with a reputable skate wheel brand like Bones or Spitfire.

Conclusion

Although this isn’t a topic for people who have a lot of experience and pretty basic stuff, it’s rather important. I hope I was able to educate you a bit on what exactly makes wheels hard or soft and under what circumstances you need them.

If you want to dig a little deeper into skateboard wheels I suggest reading my buyers guide or check out my best skateboard wheels list. There is so much more to wheels than just the hardness.

You’ll be surprised how technology has advanced over the year and what exactly makes the perfect wheel for your personal style. Getting the right wheels has a huge impact on performance and can actually make you more confident. After all, quality parts really can make the difference between landing a trick and landing primo.

Go to your local skate shop and tell them what you want to do with your first skateboard. Cruise, long rides, tricks or something in between. Think about it. They will be happy to help you to pick the right parts. 

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