Originally Posted by
on the path
So the wheels I have now are virtually new. I'm willing to dress, lube, apply product, etc. to the nipples to make them last as long as possible before rebuilding and replacing. It's a pretty simple question, albeit one that needs a lot of explanation.
Now that you have a set of new wheels my recommendation would be to replace all the nipples
now with brass ones, before they get corroded and cause you problems. I'm assuming these are machine built wheels? If you take your time and do it right (prep the threads with grease or spoke prep, properly tension, stress relieve, etc) you can have a wheelset that's "better than new" and won't give you problems later on. That's what I'd do anyway, but you have to know wheelbuilding or at least wheel truing to do it.
From a cost standpoint the cost of new brass nipples should be nearly irrelevant since you already have the spokes.