SS spokes to ALU motorcycle rims - Anti-sieze? Grease? Lube?

[Kodin]

As I'm about to lace up my first wheel, just curious; I'm lacing into a 21" aluminum motorcycle rim, with stainless-steel spokes and nipples. To prevent galvanic reactions, I'm assuming I'll want to lubricate the contact surfaces between spokes/hub and spokes/rim. The question is, what do I use?

I have aluminum-based anti-sieze compound, (the silver stuff).
I have molybdenum disulfide grease.
I have grease with moly and graphite.
I have grease with teflon.
I can easily acquire DuPont jet engine anti-sieze from a local surplus supplier.
I have a bottle of lube.

Pick one, and explain why.

 

[nutnspecial]

Interesting question!
Are you sure they're stainless nipples? I hadn't heard of any or ever seen any for sale. I thought they were always brass/alloy for a reason?

 

[Kodin]

Motorcycle spokes and nipples. I assume they were designed for steel rims and should help prevent them from sticking to the spokes easily...

 

[Punx0r]

I'd use any common grease that takes your fancy.

 

[d8veh]

If you want to prevent corrosion between dissimilar metals, Duralac. It's not a grease, just anti-corrosion.

 

[oobagooba]

I've built and trued a lot of motorcycle and bicycle wheels over the years. Never had a problem with the nipple sticking to the rim, the problem is the threads locking. Stainless threads + fasteners are especially prone to friction galling.
I've found teflon paste holds things where they belong... and comes back apart if you need it to.

I wouldn't put any permanent lube on the spoke holes. Would attract grit. A light solvent/oil like wd can help get the rim tight, then evaporate before attracting too much road grime under the nipples.

 

[motomech]

Folks here have electricity on the brain.
There will be no "galvanic reaction".
Millions of motorcycles have been built using SS spokes with Alum. rims

They go together "clean and dry", just like lug nuts on cars when they are correctly installed.
I was a motorcycle tech for 40 years.

 

[nutnspecial]

This article talks about light lube on the threads when assembling, but doesn't address any potentially dissimilar conductivity in the metals. http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/spokin-word-all-about-motorcycle-wire-wheels

This one is interesting, and directly mentions galvanic reactions between alum and steel, although in this case it's a steel rim and aluminum nipple. http://durhamcycles.com/galvanic-corrosion/

Apparently there's a product for it, and it's considered more like a paint? http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.Xspoke+prep.TRS0&_nkw=spoke+prep&_sacat=0

 

[Kodin]

Looking at the order I made for my spokes, looks like I totally bunged it up; the spokes I got were chromed steel, as were the nipples. That said, they were the only spokes I could find in 184mm length for that diameter.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221209226803

Could have sworn they were SS for some reason...

So a couple options:
A: the most impractical would be to make brass, bronze, or some other more appropriate material, ball-socket spacers for the rim-to-nipple interface.
B: Use some sort of lubricant to reduce galvanic reaction. Grease, locktite, etc...
C: Make new nipples that are magically compatible both with chromed steel as well as bare aluminum. Possibly compound to minimize galvanic reactions.

Anyway, another option on the lube front I'd read about was simply using beeswax... It's cheap, definitely waterproof, I already have tons of it lying around in semi-paste form as well as solid wax form, for lubricating screws when i do woodwork and preserving mache tooling cutters when stored long-term. Seems very unlikely to break down or attract a lot of crud if applied without a lot of excess, and if I'm doing the wheel build in my house, beeswax is probably the LEAST likely substance I can find to stain my carpet. Any downsides you can think of?

 

[nutnspecial]

If you can't (C) find brass nipples to fit, which imo halt any corrosion, then:
(B) Use a little lube and do regular maintainence as the article suggests (with a thin oil).

I like the beeswax idea, probably as good if not better than petroleum based stuff for this.

http://www.npfasteners.com/pdfs/galvanic-corrosion-chart.pdf
http://www.pemnet.com/design_info/galvanic.html
This chart shows aluminum and brass very far apart, which should induce much corrosion? Aluminum and stainless or chrome are much closer. Now I'm confused.

 

[Kodin]

Yeah copper robs aluminum of something. I forget what. Its why you never use copper anti size on aluminum block engine bolt holes. Eventually the threads will spin out with the bolt.