Switched to Park Tool's spoke prep after using WD-40 for years

I used to lube spoke nipples with WD-40 at the shop in Denver until a master builder told me it degrades tension over time. Now I use Park Tool's SP-7 on every wheel build and the tension holds way more consistent. Has anyone else found a cheaper alternative that works as good?

2 comments

2 Comments

adamthompson13d ago

man i ran wd-40 on my personal builds for like 8 years and never had a single wheel go out of true or lose tension. maybe the master builder was just trying to sell you some park tool stuff.

parker18312d ago

Whoa wait, hold on. You ran WD-40 on your spokes and nipples for 8 whole years? I mean, I've heard of people using it as a quick lube but not for that long on wheel builds. Isn't that stuff supposed to gum up and attract dirt like crazy? I'd be scared of it eating away at the spoke threads or messing with the nipple tension over time. Maybe it's just me, but that sounds like a huge risk for a tiny bit of savings on actual bike-specific lube. Idk, I'd be paranoid every time I hit a bump that something was gonna ping loose.