Originally Posted by
lungimsam
I flipped the wheel, and silence for the first 5 miles or so. Started fffftt...ffftt....ffftt again while braking after that.
However, now my brakes are working better. No squeal or Chewbacca sounds when braking. No shudder on front forks when braking. Maybe the rim offset was producing that?
I mean, as long as it is not harmful/dangerous/damaging to ride on the rim with the noise, should I just ride it out for a while and see if it smooths out on its own?
Yes, you hadn't mentioned the rest in the earlier post. Think of a misaligned seam as a curb. Going down is a gentle bump, going up a big jolt. Either the misalignment was there all along and the wheel reversed as I said earlier. Or it happened during the alignment (it can if the wheel is fairly bad, but happens rarely otherwise).
Regardless, it sounds like it's manageable now, and will only get better as the shoes slowly wear the high areas off faster than the low. What you might now be hearing is a bit of extra bite as the shoes hit the sticky area on behind the seam. This may improve, but it can take a while. You can try using some alcohol on a rag to clean the rim, but don't be surprised if the noise comes back.
Even with perfect, or welded joints, almost all rims have some unevenness in light braking, so it's something to simply live with as long as it isn't enough to cause handling or control problems.