How to Fix Wheel Bite on a Skateboard

What Is Wheel Bite?

Wheel bite happens when your wheel touches the underside of your deck during a turn. When that happens mid-roll, the wheel stops instantly while the board keeps moving — you go flying. It's one of the most common causes of unexpected falls, especially on looser setups and cruiser builds with soft, large wheels.

What Causes Wheel Bite?

Wheel bite comes down to geometry: the gap between the top of your wheel and the bottom of your deck needs to be larger than how much the wheel travels during a maximum-lean turn. That gap depends on:

• Wheel diameter — bigger wheels are closer to the deck
• Deck width and concave — narrower decks with deep concave have less clearance at the rail
• Truck height — low trucks bring the axle (and wheel) closer to the deck
• Bushing hardness — softer bushings allow more lean = more wheel travel
• Riser thickness — more riser pushes the truck further from the deck

Fix 1 — Add a Riser Pad

The most direct fix: a riser pad pushes the truck away from the deck, increasing clearance proportionally. A 1/8" (3mm) riser adds 3mm of clearance across the board; a 1/4" (6mm) adds 6mm.

Riser pads are cheap, easy to install, and don't change how the board rides (flat risers only). The downside is you need longer hardware bolts — add riser thickness to your standard bolt length.

For a custom fit: RISER 3D lets you design and 3D print custom riser pads at any height, with your choice of hole pattern and custom cutout shape. Print in PETG for outdoor use.

Fix 2 — Tighten Your Trucks

Tighter trucks lean less = less wheel travel. Tighten the kingpin nut clockwise. This is fast and free, but there's a limit: overtightening kills truck responsiveness and makes turning uncomfortable.

A good rule: tighten until the setup passes the hand-press test (press deck hard, no contact), then go a quarter-turn further. If the trucks feel like a single block, loosen.

Fix 3 — Harder Bushings

Bushings determine how much the hanger leans per unit of force. Softer bushings (75A–85A) allow a lot of lean — great for carving, bad for wheel bite. Harder bushings (95A–104A) restrict lean and act as a mechanical stop.

Switching to harder bushings is often the best fix for setups where you want to keep soft trucks but eliminate bite. Combine with a speed ring or flat washer for even more restriction at max lean.

Fix 4 — Smaller or Narrower Wheels

If you're running 60mm+ wheels on a street-width deck (8.0"–8.25"), downsizing to 54–58mm might solve the problem without any other changes. Smaller diameter = more clearance at the same lean angle.

Note: going from large soft wheels to smaller hard wheels also changes ride feel significantly — smooth-surface cruising becomes bumpier.

Fix 5 — Higher Trucks

Low trucks (closer to the deck) have less clearance than high trucks. If you're on Indy 149 Lows or similar, switching to the standard or high version of the same truck adds 2–4mm of clearance without any hardware change.

How to Diagnose Exactly How Much Clearance You Need

Use the RISER 3D Wheel Bite Tool. Enter:

• Wheel diameter (mm)
• Deck width (inches)
• Deck thickness (mm)
• Bushing hardness (durometer A)
• Truck type (standard, high, low)

The tool outputs the minimum riser height needed and the recommended bolt length. You can then jump directly to the builder to design a custom riser pad at exactly that height.

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