Tin wheel weights?

[mto7464]

I talked to a guy that has a tire shop in Iowa and he said they have to switch to a new WW soon and the industry is calling them Tin. Of course he doesn't know for sure what they are made of but I would guess the only have some tin in them. If not it will be a great source of Tin.

[Tom Herman]

I seriously doubt it! Tin is gawdaful expensive... Last I heard, it was about $16 a pound on the spot market (it has probably come down a bit, but is still expensive). We know iron and zink wheel weights are being used, and they are orders of magnitude cheaper that Tin.
I don't see why anyone would use a material that is so expensive when much cheaper altenatives exist.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[Shiloh]

+1

No way it is tin!!

Shiloh

[fishhawk]

but we can hope! steve k

[jdgabbard]

Thinks could change...

Remember just 200 years ago Alum was the most expensive metal in the entire world....

[MtGun44]

The old price of aluminum had nothing to do with scarcity of the raw ore.
It was due to the fact that the lab scale chemical processes that they were using to
separate aluminum from the ore would create milligrams of aluminum metal
at a time.

Once they developed the electrical process, the first real industrial process
to make metallic aluminum, the price dropped like a rock. Aluminum takes
a very large amount of electricity per pound to make, which is why it is a good
candidate for recycling. Melting it down is a tiny fraction of the energy used
to separate the metal from the ore in the first place.

We know very well how to separate lead from the ore, not likely to improve
much. Basically the enviros will not let a lead smelting operation exist in the
US, so all the smelting is done in China. Shipping partially refined lead ore
to China and the lead back is an expensive propsition. Also, China is
figuring out that they have a lock on it and are increasing their profit
margins due to lack of competition.

Bill

[GLL]

The seven-day spot price on tin this week is $5.20/lb and block scrap is $4.30/lb.

Jerry

[Tom Herman]

Thinks could change...

Remember just 200 years ago Alum was the most expensive metal in the entire world....

Aluminum wasn't isolated as a metal until Wohler did it in 1827.
Yes, in 1856, due to to complexity of the process to produce it, the cost was $90 per pound.
The price came down with time, especially after the Hall/Heroult process was used after 1886.
Aluminum is common, Tin is not. Zink and Iron are neither expensive nor uncommon, so they will probably remain in use as wheel weights for quite some time.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom