Oil or grease or wd-40?
How effective is truing lateral with only brake pads as guides?
For only truing lateral should tire be off?
And always small turns?
Better to always true nipples pointing up or down?
I guess to further elucidate the spoke nipple question: when truing people warn about adjusting spoke nipples upside doen because you have to turn them counter clockwise. So why not change them onky when they are right side up?
For most lateral truing, I don't see any reason you can't do this on a bike using the brake pads. If you're measuring run out in microns, sure. But for most of us...
It is recommend to reduce tire pressure when you true a wheel though you don't really need to remove the tire. The issue is that under pressure, the end of the turning nipples might cut through the rim strip and pop the tube.
The which-way to turn the nipple issue is a very common mistake when people first learn to true wheels. Once you practice a little, it won't matter whether you turn them at the top or bottom, your hands will know which way is which. But pay close attention at first, it is easy to get tighten/loosen confused as you spin the wheel around.
+1 to everything Joe_W said. WD-40 is really only good for freeing up stuck/corroded stuff. It is not a lubricant.
sure; even vegetable oil is okay, except that it will turn rancid and stink.
Nigel
Now the spoke nipples were severely rusted- no metal was showing at all. I took wd-40 and a wire brush and got them shiny new. I oiled the top part of the nipples, spun the tire thinking the force would help work the oil into them. However, i still think some are twisting the spokes. Did I oil wrong (or not work the oil in enough) or is it just time for it to go?
And now my tire popped this morning. Might be the spokes i tightened? Do i file them down?
what does the rim tape look like? Most likely that is the reason the tube popped.
the procedure is to put oil on the spokes, both ends, BEFORE they are built into a wheel.
Given that spokes are rusting, they are not stainless steel. You haven't given us the whole story on the bike, so I am not sure if the following is applicable or not.
* IF you are wanting to make the bike serviceable for many years or you want to learn about bicycle wheels; replace all of the spokes with Wheelsmith SS14 or similar 2.0mm straight gauge stainless steel spokes and 12mm nickel plated brass nipples. Rear wheels have different length spokes on each side, so remove one of each, measure so that you purchase the correct length.
* IF you are not interested in learning how to re-build wheels, and want the lowest cost approach that will be fine for a couple of years, just purchase a new low end wheel.
Nigel
1) I use double butted spokes as the wheels are much stronger than when using plain gauge spokes.
2) Get a decent entry level wheel set, not a el-cheapo WallyMart one. For road bikes, Mavic Aksium is quite nice (I have those, equal tension, very round, very durable, albeit heavy). Fulcrum is also good, as is Shimano (except for the low amount of grease in some of the cheaper hubs... repack those soon). For off-road use: I don't know. Mavic should be good, too, Shimano also. Don't know too many other brands in that price range. Also note that a handbuilt set of wheels can be competitively priced: a small shop in Germany recently built the winning wheel set for a test in a bike rag (weight + aerodynamics for a normally spoked wheel, excluding "super weapons" like the Zipp 808, but those are > 4x as expensive)
I am hoping i can save the tire for the summer than in the winter rebuild the wheel. Should i use the same wheel or get a new rim? And then how do i get the spokes/nipples off when the nipples are rusted on the spokes? Or other miscellanious wheel building advice?
Well the rim looks good. Just the majority of the nipples are seized. So i just cut the spokes ti replace them? Cuz i need to measure the spokes as a whole to get proper fitting for new ones. I do want a long lasting wheel so if I buy a cheapy wheel it wont be for long.