Having reliable luggage wheels is essential for smooth and hassle-free travel experiences. The last thing you want is to deal with a broken wheel during your trip. Fortunately, there are practical steps on how to prevent luggage wheels from breaking and ensure their long-lasting functionality.
No one wants their travel bags to get broken while on the road or in the middle of an airport. It will be its wheels if you ask for a weak point of any luggage bag. You know better than a luggage bag is useless without its wheels, even if it is of excellent quality.
Breaking or damaging luggage wheels depends upon how much stuff you carry, how far you carry it, and it’s quality. And if, unfortunately, your luggage wheels get broken, they will be of use once you get them repaired. Plus, getting them replaced is a matter of hustle and hard work.
It will take your time also. So, it is better to take care of them and prevent your luggage wheels from any damage. That’s why it is a significant worry for campers, hikers, and travellers to avoid their luggage wheels from damage or breakage. The main question is how you can prevent your luggage wheels from breaking and damaging. In this article, I have gathered and sorted out some important ways to prevent the luggage wheels from damage. Let’s dig into it and know how you can do it.
Table of Content
- 1 How to Prevent Luggage Wheels From Breaking: Precautions
- 2 What Causes Luggage Wheels to Break Faster?
- 3 How Do You Replace a Broken Luggage Wheel?
- 4 How to Stop Suitcase Wheels From Squeaking?
- 5 How Do You Reinforce Luggage Wheels?
- 6 Do Airlines Compensate for Damaged Luggage Wheels?
- 7 Do Spinner Luggage Wheels Break Easily?
- 8 Is It Necessary to Protect Luggage Wheels from Damage?
- 9 Final Thoughts : How to Prevent Luggage Wheels from Breaking
How to Prevent Luggage Wheels From Breaking: Precautions
Taking precautions to prevent luggage wheels from damaging and breaking is always a better idea. In the tips below, I have gathered everything you can do to keep your luggage wheels safe.
1. Invest in high-quality luggage
Yes, I know it is a bit expensive, but believe me, you will be happy investing in high-quality luggage. It will keep you stress-free and calm while travelling. High-quality luggage often has several plus points, like validity, high-pressure resistance, and rigid material.
2. Avoid packing Your Suitcase
If you put everything in your luggage, including metal and kitchen utensils, then be ready for unrepeatable damage. It is because overpacking a travel bag may cause an overload on its wheels, leading the luggage wheels to snap off or become damaged. Keeping the weight balanced in the luggage is better to make travelling easy and smooth.
Read More: How to Pack Luggage Efficiently?
3. Use a Wheel Cover
Another option is to use wheel covers. It is usually a tiny chunk of plastic or silicone, or it can be a piece of cloth. It covers your luggage wheels, protecting them from any scratching or resistance against the surface. A wheel cover is an efficient way to protect luggage wheels from damage.
4. Store Your Luggage Properly
It is essential to store your luggage correctly when you are not using it. Many people throw it as usual in some corner of their house and then get it damaged next time.
You should know how to store your luggage safely. For this purpose, pack your luggage in a plastic bag or large-size zip lock bag, but clean it before storing it. The best storage place for your luggage is in a closet or empty rack in your house, away from dust and dirt.
5. Check the Wheels Regularly
A plus point to keep your luggage wheels safe and sound is to check them properly and regularly. Please do not wait for your next trip. Look closer at your luggage and its wheels to notice any damage. Take action immediately if you see anything improper because further delay may cause more issues for your luggage. Take note, and if you find any damage or crack, fix it immediately.
6. Be Careful When You’re Rolling Your Suitcase
The most common and foremost reason behind the damage to luggage wheels is to use them roughly while travelling. People often do not care while carrying their luggage from bumps and steps and on rough roads; this causes the breakage and damage of luggage. You need to take care of your luggage on uneven surfaces to save it from going useless.
What Causes Luggage Wheels to Break Faster?
It is often a matter of considering which factors cause the damage and breaking of luggage wheels. If you know these factors, you can easily prevent the damage as much as possible. The following factors are the usual ones to take care of;
1. Road’s poor condition
If you have to use the road to move your luggage, take note of the road’s condition. Luggage wheels often break on uneven and rough surfaces. Many rural areas or wildlife places do not have proper silk roads to save your luggage from damage, so it is better to keep your luggage wheels safe or at least take preventive measures.
2. Traveling with pets
If you are taking your pets with you and you have stored their food or snacks in your luggage bags, they may attack the bags to get their snacks. There are chances that your pets can damage the luggage while attempting to get their food.
3. Watch the Steps
Take care of curbs or steps while manoeuvring your travel bags or luggage. There is a high chance of the luggage wheels snapping off or getting damaged while taking the luggage on the steps.
4. Weather factor
The weather affects almost everything. The luggage bags come on this list too. Buying luggage with high weather resistance is better so that the contraction or expansion of the stuff inside because of extreme weather will not damage the luggage wheels.
5. Sort it all properly
If you put all your luggage in one place, it is better to sort out all the baggage properly because any metal stuff may cause damage to the luggage bags or wheels.
6. Regular replacement
Any stuff, even of the best quality, can get damaged or cracked with time. The excessive use of luggage bags for a long time may affect their condition. So, replacing or repairing any damage caused to the luggage wheels is vital to prolong their durability.
7. Dropping or falling down
The dropping or falling of anything can be of great damage. Well, if your luggage has fallen off or dropped out accidentally, it may cause direct damage to the luggage wheels. It is vital to look for a piece of sturdy luggage specially designed to bear any pressure.
8. Quality dependent
Yes, quality is the main factor in predicting the durability of your luggage. Look for a quality product that is prone to any damage or breakage. People often get low-quality luggage bag, which breaks or gets damaged easily.
9. Rough packing
Pack your travelling stuff properly because putting everything on top of each other in the bag will spread out. That will make things hard for you to carry and handle.
10. Handling the luggage
How you handle the luggage is also important to take care of. If you have children along with you, they will try to handle the luggage independently, from which you can assume almost everything will happen, even the damage to luggage wheels.
How Do You Replace a Broken Luggage Wheel?
This is a vital question, how can you replace your broken or damaged luggage wheels? While travelling, you must know how to do it properly.
Step 1: Removing the old wheel
You will need a wrench or pliers to remove the axle nut from its place. You can pull off the wheel easily if you have taken the nut out.
Step 2: Reassemble the axle
If you have taken out the bearing quickly, you will have to put the axle back in its place. It should be done without any damage.
Step 3: Install the new wheel
The primary step is installing the new wheels instead of the old ones. The wheels should be of good quality, and if they don’t have any nuts with them, use the regular ones. At last, fix the wheel to the axle.
Step 4: Tighten up the nuts
Then, to keep the new wheels from falling or snapping off, tight them up with the proper tools.
How to Stop Suitcase Wheels From Squeaking?
This is also an essential query to solve. If you want to travel peacefully and quietly, the squeaking wheels may irritate you on another level. It is really important to keep your luggage wheels from squeaking or being noisy;
1. Identify the source
First, you should know the reason or source behind the squeaking of the luggage wheels. The main reason is that the quality of the wheels needs to be better to handle pressure, or they may need lubrication to work perfectly. Plus, the wheels may have cached any trash into their system, causing squeaking noise.
2. Lubricate the wheels
The lubrication of wheels should be regular and appropriate. You can use petroleum jelly or a small amount of WD-40. A bar of soap can also be used to lubricate your luggage wheels in sudden situations. But make sure to clean any dirt or trash from your luggage wheels before lubricating them. And if any squeaky noise remains after lubrication, you should fix or tighten up the nuts of the wheels.
How Do You Reinforce Luggage Wheels?
If you have noticed any irregularities in your luggage wheels or if they will wear off, you should take steps to have them repaired or reinforced. There are many ways to bolster the luggage wheels before they become further damaged or broken, which will need to be better.
1. Rubber wheel cover
To provide an extra protective and reinforcing layer on your luggage wheels, you should install some rubber or silicone wheel covers to keep them from any damage. And it is better to look for the best quality wheel covers, which can go for a long time without breakage.
2. Clear tape
The most common and easy-to-get thing in your house is clear tape. Most travellers do not know that clear tape can keep luggage wheels safe. You can cover the luggage wheels with some layers of clear tape, and it will save some time from outer roughness.
3. Adhesive
Adhesives, yes, but the stronger ones will significantly help you. It is the best way to keep your luggage wheels in place. This option is more permanent, but you will need help to replace your luggage wheels if you want to.
Do Airlines Compensate for Damaged Luggage Wheels?
The most commonly asked question from travellers is if the airlines compensate for the damage or breaking of luggage wheels. Well, it depends on the airline company’s claim policy you will travel to.
They usually provide the damage repair or replacement expenses rather than the entire claim. Do check the compensation policy of your airline and always save the evidence of the damage they have caused in the form of pictures to get them refunded.
Do Spinner Luggage Wheels Break Easily?
The most commonly asked question from travellers is about the easy damage of spinner wheels. Spinner wheels are way different from simple ones. The spinning quality of these wheels makes them prone to wear and breakage. This point harms the durability of these wheels. Some critical factors that affect their lifeline are;
1. Quality
Quality is one of the most critical factors regarding luggage wheels. You have to carry a lot of stuff and burden on these little wheels, so they have to be strong and of good quality. Wheels made of cheap plastic will break easily.
2. Usage
Luggage wheels of any quality or expense, depending upon the usage. If you use them on rough routes or surfaces, they will be damaged easily. Plus, an important tip is not to use these spinner wheels for trips like hiking. They will bring hurdles your way. Use them while going on easy and smooth travels.
Is It Necessary to Protect Luggage Wheels from Damage?
Yes, protecting your luggage wheels from breaking and damage is vital as you will not want your travelling stuff to spread all over in the middle of the airport or road.
1. Why is it necessary?
It is essential to keep your travel luggage safe and away from damage. As you know, we use our travel bags to keep our stuff safe, and if the luggage wheels or bags break, they will also damage the property inside. If the travel wheels are safe and sound and are of good quality, they will make travelling much easier and smoother. It will also keep you away from extra worry while travelling.
Final Thoughts : How to Prevent Luggage Wheels from Breaking
So, you have read in the article above that it is not only important but necessary for travellers to keep their luggage wheels safe and sound. The luggage wheels can be in good condition without effort. You will always want your travelling stuff to be protected just by breaking your luggage wheels. They are one of the most important factors to take care of while travelling, and it can be easy with some knowledge and precautions. Now that you know everything to keep your luggage wheels safe, you can travel as many miles smoothly and efficiently. Good luck with your journey!