How to Fix Inline Skate Wheel Spinning and Clicking Issues

You anxiously awaited new wheels and/or bearings, quickly installed onto your favorite skates, and headed out expecting reinvigorated performance. Instead, a wheel doesn’t want to spin, or you hear an annoying clicking noise! The skates worked fine previously, so what the heck?

You are not going crazy (at least not for this reason). It typically happens on one wheel, and almost always can be fixed by replacing a bearing spacer on the affected wheel(s). Fortunately, they cost about $1 at Inline Warehouse.

Wheel hubs (both plastic and aluminum) have manufacturing tolerances that although not seen by the naked eye, can change how the bearing spacer fits and functions. Bearing spacers also have manufacturing tolerances, as do the bearings themselves.

If tolerances result in the spacer being too short, the frame can pinch the bearing when tightening the axle and prevent a wheel from spinning freely. If it results in the spacer being too long, it will create a clicking noise when skating.

You may be able to move bearing spacers around and get lucky. Otherwise, the solution is to have or get extra bearing spacers and have them on hand. It’s almost guaranteed to happen on race day with that fresh set of wheels you’ve been saving for the big day.

Having extras in the same bearing spacer is often all that is needed, but you can also have shorter and longer spacers in your bag to fix the issue when it happens.

The “standard” floating bearing spacer is 10.3mm in length (not accounting for manufacturing variances). Most brand if not specified are right around this 10.3mm in length. Powerslide and Bont offer spacers both shorter and longer. The Wicked brand offers an adjustable spacer to cover both directions.