Originally Posted by Andrew R Stewart

WRT the nipple galling on the rim- Perhaps I didn't fully explain what i was trying to describe. Al nipples on an Al rim, without any spoke hole eyelets, tend to have far greater friction between them than brass nipples on Al does. It's this Al on Al friction that adds to the spoke in nipple friction and thus makes rounding off the nipple's flats all that much more likely, hence the oil applied to that contact. It's by belief that added to this is the age/exposure corrosion aspect that increases the nipple/rim bond.