Background

Luggage - A container we all spend a good amount of money on to carry our personal belongings when we travel. Once its done its job, it is often left untouched in our storerooms for months or years, waiting for our next adventure. When it is finally time to shine again, BOOM, the zippers start to burst and it's wheels start coming apart. You search frantically for the warranty card and receipt, wandering if it is still covered under warranty. If it is, good for you, you can get it fixed for at no cost. And for the rest of us who are not as lucky, we are left with one more dysfunctional luggage to feed our hoarding mentality. Best part? Now you will have to spend $XXX on a new luggage before your trip even started and you very well know this vicious cycle repeats.

This blog post aims to break this cycle and hopefully reduce the amount of waste we generate and save you some money to spend on things that matters.

The luggage that I have is a American Tourister Stream-Alfa Spinner 20inch which I bought back in 2015 and at the time of writing this post, it is retailing at 140SGD. I managed to damage its wheels while dragging it along the uneven road in Venice during my exchange but thanks to their global network of service centers, I managed to get it repaired at no cost when I went over to Austria. Coincidentally, the service center was within 5 minutes walking distance from the Airbnb that my friends and I were staying. Its one of those times when you just felt like the stars aligned perfectly for you.

The wheels started to breakdown 2 years later when I was on a different trip. By then, the warranty for the luggage had already expired. Determined not to spend extra money on a luggage during the trip, I endured a sored forearm and dragged it all the way back to Singapore. Despite using the luggage for many years, many of its features such as the pull handle, lock, both the exterior and interior are still functional. I contacted the official service center to get a quote on repairing the wheels and not surprisingly, it cost $20 to replace each wheel, total cost - $80. In my mind - "I might as well get a brand-new one!"

That was my intend but not before I satisfy my desired to tear things apart. It is extremely easy to get access to the wheels.

The Repair

All that is required is to unzip the interior luggage sleeve and the screws securing the wheels will be exposed. 

I unscrewed it, took out the wheels and TADA! Chinese Characters with some model number! Hmm...not so "American" after all? 😏

Using my limited mandarin proficiency and a little brain cells, it did not take me too long to find these wheels on aliexpres. At the time of writing, the wheels cost only 13.67SGD for a pair of wheels with free shipping. That means to full repair will only set you back 27.34SGD! A rather reasonable price to pay to extend the useful life of your luggage. Needless to say that I went ahead to repair it on my own. I wish I could show you a comparison between the old and new wheels but unfortunately I had already discarded it. The original wheels were in grey while the wheels from aliexpress is black, otherwise the design of the wheels are exactly the same.

I hope this post is informative and helped you to save some money! If you have done similar repairs for a different luggage, feel free to share your experience in the comments section and I will update this post for the benefit of our readers! I have also included links to the wheel replacements for some of the more common luggages in Singapore(Those that you can get for free when you sign up a credit card from the banks). 😉 Thank you for reading!

Luggage Types

American Tourister Sunset Square 55cm/20inch Spinner

Luggage Wheel Model	Available at
奔轮 F-20	$41.15 for 4 wheels

American Tourister Stream-Alfa Spinner 55cm/20inch Spinner

Luggage Wheel Model	Available at
宏盛/hongsheng A-90	$19.20 for 2 wheels OR $35.41 for 4 wheels

American Tourister Caravan 70cm TSA luggage

Luggage Wheel Model	Available at
奔轮 F-49	Discontinued
W064	$14.90/ pair

Other notable Wheels

Luggage Wheel Model	Available At
American Tourister luggage wheel F-61 or A-159	$61 for 4 wheels
Samsonite luggage wheel/ Delsey luggage wheel 宏盛/hongsheng A-95 W166 or W178	$33.78 per wheel for A-95 W166 - $27.77 for 2 wheels W178 - $35.77 for 2 wheels
American Tourister 宏盛/hongsheng A-65	$8.75 for 2 wheels

Disclaimer: This repairs are done at your on risk, if your luggage is still covered under warranty, it is best to get it repaired at the designated service centres. Should you carry out these repairs, we will not bear any responsibilities for any damages to your properties or any injuries you may sustain during the process. We make no profit from the sales of these luggage wheels and the responsibility is solely yours to ensure that you get the right wheels for your luggage, the information here only serve as recommendations based on information made available to us.