W.W. huntin'!!

[jleneave]

I got out today and went to about 10 different car dealerships and tire stores huntin' wheel weights. I was about to give up when I found a place that had a crap load of w.w. I gave $30/ 5gallon bucket. I wanted 3 buckets but only had two buckets and a plastic tub with me. The guy ended up pouring 4 buckets that were about 3/4 way full into my tub and then filling the two buckets up more than 3/4 way full and only charged me for 3 buckets!!!! He even loaded them up in the truck for me ( I have a very bad back and can't lift anything much over about 20lbs, If I do I can't walk or stand for about a week! Degenerative Disk Disease really sucks!!). I had a friend unload them for me and weigh some of them as he was unloading them. He stopped weighing them before he was half way through them and had 256 lbs. I figure there is somewhere between 500-600lbs of them at least. The guy told me I could come back every 4 to 5 weeks and get the same amount again!! I figured if there were 500lbs of w.w. I got about .18 cents/lbs in them (it is probably closer to 600lbs). All the other places I stopped at either told me that they didn't have any (one of these places had them laying around everywhere and all over the floor too) or they wanted way too much for them. One place wanted $1.50/lbs and said that he called a scrap yard while I was waiting and they told him they would buy all he had for $1.50/lbs. I told him he better hurry and sell them to the scrap yard before they changed thier minds!! Another place, a scrap dealer in another county said he had two 55 gallon drums full of w.w. and that he would take .75 cents/lbs. I told him that I just couldn't pay that much for them and offered .40 cent/lbs and he told me he would keep my name and number in case something changed. Boy am I glad he didn't take me up on it!! Last week I hit a few places in the county over and ended up with about 450lbs of w.w. from 4 or 5 different places. Two of those places just gave them to me when I offered to buy them and the other places I paid .15 cents/lbs for them. I stopped at about 14 or 15 different places and was only able to score w.w. at 4 or 5 places. The other places said that they didn't have any because they threw them away, or some one else got to them first, or an employee was using them for the same thing I was. The places that were throwing them away told me they would start saving them for me. I am not trying to rub it in or brag, I just wanted to show that if you shop around and be persistant eventually it pays off, at least it has for me.

[dmftoy1]

You left out the most important part of the story . ..what's the guy's name, address and phone #? :)

[Andy_P]

Good job. That's how you do it. Now you need to keep going back to that place even if you don't "need" any more, because if you don't, the buckets will overflow and someone else will move in, or they'll find another way to dispose of them. He said 4-5 weeks? I'd be back in 3-4 weeks.

[Navahojoe]

I found two wheel weights in Wally World parking lot last night. Yep! I picked them up. One was a nice truck wheel weight, big sucker.
regards,
NavahoJoe :castmine:

[Bob Jones]

jleneave, just keep going back and stockpiling, because I can pretty much guarantee you the situation won't last too long.

Used to be that way in my area, now most all the places darn near laugh in my face when I ask for WW. Don't mind a no, but they actually get rude about saying no anymore.

There's an old saying in the gun biz, buy them cheap and stack them deep, it's good advice.

[Ghugly]

Great job! Get what you can, while you can. Lead wheel weights are being phased out world wide. I think it's safe to say that a nice stash of wheel weight ingots will be a better investment than any savings account.

[jleneave]

You left out the most important part of the story . ..what's the guy's name, address and phone #? :)

dmftoy1, Sorry, but I left that out intentionally......lol. Like the others said, I don't know how long this honey hole will last so I am going to do all I can to keep it and hoard the hell out of the w.w. until I run out of places to store them.

Ghugly,I tease my wife about all the lead ingots stacked up are almost like gold or silver with the prices of lead like they are.

Navahojoe, I do the same thing. I have even found my self looking on the side of the roads when I am at stoplights...lol

Bob Jones, You are probably right about that not lasting too long. I am going to try and put back all that I can. I too have had a couple guys that get a little smart when they tell you no, but I just smile at them and say, "Thanks anyway, if you change your mind give me holler." Never know they might change thier mind one of these days, so I try not to burn any bridges.

Andy_P, I thought about goiing back a week or two early, but I don't want to wear out my welcome, but you can bet that I will be there in exactly 4 weeks, maybe a day or two early. I just hope this lasts for a while. I figure if I ever get to the point of "having too many" I could always get some of my money back, but it will be awhile before it gets to that point.

Thanks for the replies!!

[waksupi]

I found two wheel weights in Wally World parking lot last night. Yep! I picked them up. One was a nice truck wheel weight, big sucker.
regards,
NavahoJoe :castmine:

Gotta be a pretty good Injun to sneak up on a wheel weight that way.

[selmerfan]

I went on my first hunting expedition and got about 60-70 lbs. of WW yesterday. I paid $15 total, I don't think I did too poorly. My parents have a major tire and recapping store in their tiny little town in SD and I've sent dad down there to find out if he can buy their WW. I'll have to see what he comes up with today...
Selmerfan