I don't do anything now bar tighten the bolts on my Xtremes. If bolt keeps working loose then I put thread lock on it. Only problem seems to be the top pole which lasts over a year. I also have the 18 Xtreme that broke and I joined it back together again which I use for ground level or bungalows. Too busy now to worry about maintaining my poles, time is too important especially now I have reached 59.