How to apply griptape to your skateboard

Griptape is a self-adhesive type of coarse sandpaper glued to the top of your skateboard. As the name suggests, it gives you grip on your skateboard for riding and doing tricks

You can always go to one of our shops where our friendly staff will help you assemble your skateboard. However, lots of skaters prefer to do it themselves. We’ll show you how easy it is.

You need:

• Skateboard Deck
• Griptape
• Skate tool
• Box cutter or other sharp knife

Five easy steps

1. Stick the griptape on

Rest your clean, dry skateboard deck on a sturdy, flat surface. Remove the protective backing from the tape and keep it centred over your deck. Now place the tape down on the deck leaving about 1 cm excess material either side of the deck. Now, slowly but firmly press the tape down, starting from one side to the other, with one hand. With this method you can avoid air bubbles.

If you do have still have little air bubbles, you can try to push them over the edge of the deck. If that doesn’t work, you can pierce the bubbles with the box cutter.

Tip: A dry, clean deck will stick the best.

2. Mark the edges

Clearly marking the edges will make it much easier to cleanly cut them later. To do this, take your skate tool or screwdriver and rub all the way along the edge of your deck. On the tape you’ll now see a clear white line all the way around the deck.

Tip: Rub your skate tool firmly against the edges, the harder you press the clearer your line will be and you’ll be able to cut easier later.

3. Trim the griptape to fit

Cut the excess tape off the deck with a box cutter along the mark. Hold the deck securely, just to be safe.

Tip: Cut along the edge at a 45° angle. This will give you a neat, straight edge.

4. Sand the edges

Take the offcuts from the grip tape and sand over the freshly cut edge. This ensures that no material sticks out and it won’t peel off in the future.

Tip: Stick two edges of the offcut griptape together and use them to sand the edges. This way it is much more stable and easier to sand.

5. Punch holes for the screws

Finally, you need to punch the holes through the griptape to mount your trucks. Push the screws from the trucks through the griptape and cut away the excess material. Now you can mount your trucks and wheels on to you new deck and start skating.

Tip: To help punching the holes you can use the cross (phillips head) attachment for your skate tool. This can give you a clean hole to mount your setup through.

When should I replace my griptape?

Griptape wears out over time. Because skating works through friction between skate shoes and the deck, the griptape will get smoother gradually. When this happens, it becomes more difficult to do tricks as you lose your grip. If you feel yourself losing grip, you can replace the griptape on your deck. To do this heat the edges of the deck with a hair dryer, the heat loosens the glue and you can peel off the old tape.

Tip: The better and hotter your hairdryer is the easier it is to remove griptape.