Caster Wheels for Carpet, Hard floors, and Linoleums
Looking for the best casters for carpet to make your movement around the office smoother while also trying to protect the surfaces in your office or your workspace at home? 
I was a young rookie working at home (yes, before the pandemic) for a small company. I naturally got an office chair, but it never occurred to me I should be careful about my hardwood floors. After a few months, there was a roundish spot on my hardwood where the caster wheels removed the wood finish and protection.
To avoid this happening again, I opened my eyes to the matter. A couple of years later, I’ve got a brand new carpet to cover the spot, and I’ve switched through a few sets of wheels until I found a few concepts that I believe did the best job. In this article, we are reviewing the best casters for carpet, linoleum, tiles, and even hardwood floors you can find online. This is the result of my experience, so check it.
Top Rated 6 casters for carpet Reviews
What is the biggest challenge for a buyer these days? While you think about it, notice how many options today’s market offers to a buyer regardless of what he is thinking to purchase. That’s why reading buying guides or reviews is important if you want detailed insights on your purchase.
To make it easier for you, “we have compiled a list of six best office chair wheels for carpet” for your better judgment. Here it goes…
1The Office Oasis Rollerblade Office Chair Wheels
Key Features:
- Polyurethane wheels
- Sturdy and durable construction
- Can be used on carpets, hardwood, laminate, tiles, and other hard surfaces.
- Easy to install
- Fit almost any chair on the market
Rollerblade chair wheels have seen success over the years for their clear advantages over surfaces. I believe that the Office Oasis wheels are the best caster wheels for carpets on the market. The secret is in the polyurethane mixture found in their wheels. It serves as a contact surface with the floor and being softer than traditional office chair wheels.
Secondly, they are larger than regular chair wheels and they sit on very well-made ball bearings, allowing them for smooth gliding over any surface. The wheels rest on a sturdy steel bracket that can take up to 650lbs of weight.
On the top of the bracket, two swivels with ball bearings are placed, one from above and one from below. They provide the smoothest swivel when changing the direction and orientation of the chair.
2Lifelong Rubber Chair Casters
The best office chair wheels for carpet will not allow it to slow them down while not damaging the integrity of the carpet. Lifelong Rubber casters are just like that. They are an alternative to rollerblade soft chair casters that you can consider if you intend to use on flat carpets.
They may not be the best chair casters for deep carpets though, and this is something you can take into account.
Despite the fact, they work extremely well on hard flat surfaces, and getting a caster mat won’t pop in mind for the world when using them. They are very quiet when effortlessly gliding across the office, and taking turns is as easy as on a bicycle.
Key Features:
- 3-inch rim size
- Lifelong durability
- Very quiet
- Smooth gliding
- 650lbs weight limit
3OPTTICO Office Glider
If you want to get rid of the annoying chair mats that gather up static electricity and make the crackling sound every time you move your chair, you can consider purchasing OPTTICO Office Gliders. They work very well under any condition except the soft carpets. They work well, especially on thin office carpets.
The ride is buttery smooth and unnoticeable. They don’t make almost any noise depending on the surface, and that’s why they are favorites in large office spaces with many chairs and people. Office workers spending time in these spaces report relief that they don’t have to work in a train station anymore (referencing the constant hum of old chair casters).
They are made of zero plastic parts, so you can look forward to high durability and weight limit. They are easy to set up on almost any chair on the market.
Key Features:
- Polyurethane coating
- Zero plastic parts, all steel, and heavy-duty materials
- Can be set up with no tools
- Smooth and silent gliding
- Perfectly safe for hardwood
4ATOMDOC Caster Wheels
If you are looking to support innovation and originality, consider ATOMDOC and their caster wheels. Probably the best heavy-duty casters for carpet on the market, they are different from other products on the list.
They are also among the best casters for high pile carpets because of their design. The difference in the design is such that these wheels are made of thicker polyurethane wheels that rest on quadruple stainless steel bearings, which give them an astonishingly smooth ride. The design in total is made so that your new wheels protect the surfaces and run smoothly across any of them. The wheels are also protected from fur and hair, making the need for maintenance less frequent.
Key Features:
- Quadruple ball bearings on each of the wheels
- Support up to 550lbs
- Wider wheels
- Fashionable and elegant design
- Bearing protection cover
Amzdeal Office Chair Casters
Most office chairs are black, and seeing an all-black chair with transparent or white wheels can be off-putting to many. I know it was to me. If you want to avoid that, I can recommend Amzdeal casters as the best office chair casters for carpets that are all-black. The polyurethane wheel covering is still somewhat transparent, but it’s infused with a black tint to adjust to the tone of the whole wheel.
They have all the advantages of rollerblade casters with practically no disadvantage, except being less fun on thick carpets. The polyurethane covering protects hardwood and tiles extremely well.
The wheels are three inches in diameter which is significantly more than the usual chair casters. The diameter allows for a smoother ride yet the precision is not compromised. They’ll stop when they have to stop.
Key Features:
- All black
- 3-inch wheels
- 350lbs weight limit
- Compatible with 99% of chairs
- Safe for hardwood and hard carpet
6Office Owl Rollerblade Office Chair Wheels
First of all, kudos for the original name of the brand. Secondly, kudos for making some of the best casters for carpets. The wheels will fit almost any chair and they will probably stay there for years on. High durability is a result of their simple yet functional design, and the materials used to manufacture them.
Office Owl chair wheels don’t need any tools to install, they are extremely easy to mount, and you can forget about office chair mats and similar protective measures. They are perfectly safe for hard floors like short carpets, hardwood, laminate, tiles, and similar. They provide some of the smoothest and quietest glides over these surfaces.
Key Features:
- Very suitable for hard floor surfaces
- They can take up to 650lbs of weight
- Highly durable
- Amazing swivel ball bearing technology
- Universal 7/16 x 7/8 inch stem
Buyers guide
Maybe it’s time to replace the old office chair wheels for some that will do a better job in providing maneuverability, material safety, maybe durability, and, why not – speed? But, what to look for probably remains a mystery. I will try to concisely answer what’s important when looking for the best chair casters for carpet and hard floors for yourself.
Two basic types of wheels
When choosing office chair casters you have to bear in mind that there are basically two types of office chair wheels:
1. Soft wheels – counterintuitively, they are great for hard floors.
These wheels are most commonly made of polyurethane which protects and glides well over hard flat surfaces. Their diameter is also usually larger, and they are thinner. Since they are soft, the area of contact should be smaller. That way the wheels roll with less effort. Their softness protects the surface in the long run, just like wheels on a bike or a car.
Swivel is another plus with these casters. Since there’s not much contact area, the wheels can turn more smoothly around the axis. This provides an extremely smooth rolling experience. Many compare office chairs with these wheels as a ‘sports’ variant of the office utility.
Finally, the soft polyurethane coating absorbs shock and practically reduces material tremor to zero. This translates to much less noise if there is any whatsoever.
Because of the longer diameter of the wheels, these casters sometimes (but not only them) can increase the overall height of the chair, so attention is needed if you don’t want to do that.
2. Hard wheels – again contrary to the name, these wheels work well on softer floors like thick or high pile carpets.
They are made of plastic in most cases and are designed with wider wheels to evenly distribute the weight and the pressure put on the carpet.
The hard surface is important in this case because the carpet is already soft and it’s made of many smaller pieces of fabric. These pieces would stick and adhere to any softer materials like polyurethane, which in turn would damage both the fabric and the wheel.
A larger contact area is essential for distributing the weight over as much of the carpet as possible. This way the carpet doesn’t undertake the wear and tear associated with smaller contact surfaces.
The reason why these wheels are usually smaller is that the energy transfer from the wheel to the carpet is smaller and that way the carpet doesn’t take as much wear and tear. The effort to pull the chairs with these casters is higher and maybe it’s for the better. The slower speeds don’t put so much pressure on tall carpets.
As for both types of casters what needs to be considered are the materials used in their making. The casters always take up the workload, no matter the weight of the sitter. That’s why they should be made of hard and durable materials like steel better than plastic. This is especially important forbearing because you can argue that your wheel is functional as long as the bearings don’t give in.
FAQ
Do caster wheels work on carpet?
There are caster wheels that work on carpet, depending on the type of carpet. If you have a soft thick carpet, you should find hard and wide caster wheels. If you have a thin carpet, polyurethane caster wheels should do the job well enough.
Are rollerblade casters better for carpets?
Rollerblade casters made of polyurethane are recommended for hard and flat surfaces, like hardwood, tiles, and thin carpets. They are made of softer materials and with longer diameters so they won’t damage flat surfaces, unlike hard plastic casters.
Can hard floor casters be used on carpet? Here are the comparisons of carpet casters vs hard floor casters.
What is a carpet caster?
A carpet caster is an office chair wheel that is put on an office chair instead of the original chair caster. Carpet casters protect the carpet surfaces and make gliding over them easier. There are two types of carpet casters. The first type is meant for thin carpets. The best kind of these is rollerblade casters, preferably thin ones.
The Office Oasis casters are the best of this kind. The second type of casters is the casters for thick carpets. They are made of harder materials, like hard plastic, and they are also thicker and wider than casters for thin carpets. You can find the best chair casters for high pile carpets here.
What casters are good on carpet?
The best office chair wheels for thick carpets are made of hard materials, like plastic or even metal. As opposed to this, great casters for thin carpets are thinner, bigger, and made of soft materials, like polyurethane.
What is the difference between hard and soft casters?
While great and irreplaceable for thick carpets, hard casters can damage hard floors and thin carpets while also making noise while moving. That’s why soft casters are made. They don’t damage hard surfaces and they are almost unnoticeable over hard surfaces. Some products are even suitable for hardwood floors.
What do you put under the office chair on the carpet?
To prevent damage on the surfaces on which the office chair is used, people commonly acquire plastic chair mats. They readily protect the surfaces, but they come with a few drawbacks. The first one being is they are usually not as large as we’d sometimes want them to be. The second thing is that they are not as durable and they can eventually tear.
Minor problems that they can produce are the gathering of static electricity and the noise while moving the chair. That’s why many resort to using either soft or hard office chair casters, depending on the floor surface.
Conclusion
I have come a long way since I started searching for the best replacement office chair casters for carpet. There were some ups and downs on that road in an effort to prevent my floors from damaging. And, to be honest, to reduce the noise I make when I move. So far, I can say that to me, The Office Oasis casters are the best casters for carpet I could find, and I am glad I found them.
If you need casters for tall carpets, you should be careful and search for wider and harder casters. So far, I can recommend ATOMDOC caster wheels because of their width and their quadruple-bearing technology. Another alternative for high pile carpets can be found here.
So, that’s all I have to say about office wheel casters. I believe you have everything you need to buy a replacement set for you and say goodbye to the chair mats. Happy gliding!
