The Rise of "Soft Slide" Wheels: Skateboarding's Best-of-Both-Worlds Trend
The Rise of "Soft Slide" Wheels: Skateboarding's Best-of-Both-Worlds Trend
If you've been skate shopping lately, you've probably noticed a new category showing up on the wall next to the usual hard street wheels and mushy cruiser wheels: hybrid "soft slide" wheels. They're being marketed by nearly every major wheel brand right now, and for good reason - they solve a problem skaters have complained about for decades.
Let's break down what they actually are, how the hardness ratings work, and how Spitfire, Bones, and OJ each approach the idea a little differently.
The Problem Soft Slide Wheels Are Solving
For most of skateboarding history, you had to pick a lane:
Hard wheels (99A and up) are fast, they slide predictably across ledges and rails, and they give you that snappy, responsive feel for flip tricks. The tradeoff? Every crack, pebble, and rough patch of asphalt rattles straight up through your legs.
Soft wheels (78A-87A or so) soak up all that rough terrain and roll over cracks like they aren't even there. The tradeoff? Soft urethane is grippy. Try to slide a soft wheel across a ledge or manual pad and it tends to grab and stick instead of sliding smoothly, which can stop you dead or throw you off balance.
Soft slide wheels are an attempt to get rid of that tradeoff. Using newer urethane formulas, brands have figured out how to make a wheel that's soft enough to smooth out rough ground but still slides in a controlled way like a harder wheel. That's the whole pitch, and it's why these wheels have become popular with skaters who skate real streets instead of perfectly smooth skateparks - which, let's be honest, is most people.
Durometer 101: How Wheel Hardness Is Actually Measured
Before comparing brands, it helps to understand the number printed on every wheel - the durometer rating.
Durometer measures how hard or soft the urethane is, using the A scale, which typically runs from about 78A (very soft, squishy) up to 101A (very hard).
The higher the number, the harder the wheel, the faster it rolls on smooth ground, and the easier it slides.
The lower the number, the softer the wheel, the more grip and shock absorption you get, and the better it handles rough or cracked pavement.
A rough guide most riders use:
Durometer Feel Typical use
78A-87A Very soft Cruising, rough streets, longboards
88A-95A Medium-soft Rough street spots, hybrid riding
96A-99A Firm All-around street and park
99A-101A Hard Technical street, smooth parks, pro-level slide control
One wrinkle: Bones uses a different scale, called the B scale, for their hardest wheels. Once urethane gets hard enough, the standard A scale stops being accurate. The B scale reads about 20 points lower than the A scale, so a Bones wheel rated 84B is roughly equivalent to 104A - harder than the A scale even measures. So when you see a Bones wheel with a "B" instead of an "A," don't assume it's softer just because the number looks smaller - it's actually describing one of the hardest wheels on the market.
With that out of the way, here's how each brand builds their soft-slide hybrid.
Spitfire: Formula Four "Soft Sliders"
Spitfire's Formula Four line is already known for resisting flat spots better than most competitors. Their soft-slide entry is the Formula Four Soft Sliders, which currently top out at 93D - the softest wheel Spitfire has ever made in that lineup.
Durometer: 93D (compare to the standard F4 lineup, which runs 99D and 101D)
What it does differently: Normally, dropping the durometer that low would make a wheel too grippy to slide. Spitfire's high-rebound Formula Four urethane absorbs impact like a soft cruiser wheel but is engineered to still let go and slide when you ask it to - like popping off a ledge or doing a manual down a rough sidewalk.
Best for: Skaters who commute or film in real city environments and don't want to swap wheels between "commute mode" and "trick mode."
For comparison, Spitfire's standard F4 99D is a firmer, more classic street wheel, and the 101D is their hardest and fastest option, built for smooth skateparks where slide control matters more than shock absorption.
Bones: X-Formula (XF)
Bones has three main wheel families - STF (street), SPF (skatepark), and ATF (soft, all-terrain) - but their dedicated hybrid answer is X-Formula, sold as X95, X97, and X99.
Durometer: 95A, 97A, or 99A, depending on how much softness vs. hardness you want
What it does differently: Bones describes X-Formula as rolling over rough terrain the way a softer wheel does, while sliding the way a harder wheel does. The high-rebound urethane is the key - it's soft enough to absorb vibration on cracked pavement, but the compound is tuned so it doesn't grab when you slide.
Best for: Skaters who want a bit more choice in how soft they go. X95 leans softer and more forgiving on rough ground, while X99 rides closer to a standard street wheel with just a bit more give.
It's worth noting Bones' STF line (99A/103A) already had a reputation for sliding well without flat-spotting, so X-Formula is really Bones pushing that same philosophy into softer territory for rougher terrain.
OJ Wheels: Double Duro
OJ takes a genuinely different engineering approach. Instead of one urethane formula tuned to act soft-but-slide, Double Duro wheels are literally built with two hardness levels in the same wheel - a softer inner core wrapped in a harder outer layer.
Durometer: Sold in combos like 99A/95A and 101A/95A (outer number first, inner number second)
What it does differently: The harder outer edge is what contacts the ground and does your sliding, while the softer inner urethane underneath absorbs the shock of rough pavement before it reaches your trucks and legs. It's a more literal, physical way of hybridizing "soft" and "slide" rather than blending it into one uniform compound.
Best for: Skaters who want the slide feel of a firmer wheel on top, but extra cushioning underneath for chewed-up spots.
OJ also sells straightforward soft cruiser wheels like Super Juice (78A) and Keyframe (87A) for pure comfort, but those aren't built to slide - Double Duro is their dedicated hybrid line.
Which One Should You Actually Pick?
Here's where it comes down to real-world scenarios:
You skate mostly smooth skateparks or bowls, but want a softer landing off transitions Go with something firmer inside the hybrid range, like Bones X99 or Spitfire F4 99D. You'll keep the fast, predictable slide you're used to with just a little extra forgiveness.
You skate rough city streets, cracked sidewalks, or ledges scattered around a downtown area This is where Spitfire 93D Soft Sliders or Bones X95 shine - they're on the softer end of the hybrid spectrum, so they'll roll over debris and cracks with the least amount of rattle while still letting you slide when you hit a ledge or rail.
You want a wheel that feels different depending on impact - soft on rough pavement, firm and slidey on smooth spots OJ Double Duro is the most literal answer to this, since the two-layer construction physically changes how the wheel responds depending on how hard it's compressed.
You film a lot, skate spots you've never seen before, or commute on your board Any of the three hybrids work, but the softer end of each brand's range (Spitfire 93D, Bones X95, OJ Double Duro 99A/95A) gives you the most margin for error on unpredictable ground.
The Simple Takeaway
Soft slide wheels aren't a gimmick - they're a genuine answer to the oldest tradeoff in wheel design: comfort versus control. Spitfire leans on a single soft-but-slippery urethane formula, Bones does something similar with X-Formula across three durometers, and OJ physically layers two hardnesses into one wheel. None of them is objectively "the best" - it really comes down to how rough your terrain is and how much slide you need on top of it.
If you're not sure where to start, a good rule of thumb: the rougher your local spots, the softer you should go within the hybrid range. The smoother your usual terrain, the firmer hybrid option will feel more familiar to what you're used to riding.