mystery WW

[squid1230]

Picked through a 5 Gal pail of WW today. I was amazed how many valve stems were in there. Not too many Zinc or Iron. I did however find a few WW that were curved and had two holes near either edges, but no clips. Bolt - on's I presume. They are obviously lead, but very soft - I could almost fold them over my finger. Are they from transport trucks perhaps? I threw them in the pile of stick-ons.

[autofix4u]

I see and work with these WW every day they come from BMW factory wheels. The clip gets reused. and the are either pure lead(soft) or pure zinc (hard). I still have a good supply of them, but all new ones since 2006 have been zinc and usless to me. Hope this answers you questions.

[dominicfortune00]

I have seen some similar to those above, but they are made of light grey plastic.

Upon cutting the plastic open, there is a small bit of lead.

[squid1230]

autofix4u - they are so soft, they could only pure lead. Thanks for the heads up. Next time I see a bimmer I'll watch for those wheel weights. Also noticed the zinc and iron ww were riveted on as opposed to being embedded. Not sure if that would be a definitive way to separate ww's.

[Matt_G]

Also noticed the zinc and iron ww were riveted on as opposed to being embedded. Not sure if that would be a definitive way to separate ww's.

No, it's not a definitive way.
I have seen zinc that were not riveted.
Let temperature do the work for you. That's definitive. :)
Easier as well.

[tall grass]

Guys, get some muratic acid at the lumber yard and dip the suspect weight in some and if it sizzles and turns black it is zink. It's an easy and sure way to tell.

good day

Jim

[462]

squid,

I've run across them and they are too light weight to be lead, even though they are soft. They're junk, toss them.

Some zinc weights are rivited, others aren't. When in doubt test with cutters, lead is very soft, zinc is extremely hard -- almost like steel.