Buckets of wheel weights... what do you pay?

[nickf829]

I have been to 20 garages/tire shops in my area, and have been rejected 19 times. The only reason I wasn't rejected at #20, I know the dude. Unfortunately in a 7 month time he only had about a half bucket, MAYBE 60lbs of assorted weights. Unfortunately there are a decent number of zinc/steel weights mixed in.

Of the other 19 shops I stopped at, most had recyclers that picked them up, 1 had just thrown all theirs away and said try back in a month for more, 1 said he would give me a coffee can for $10(seemed high) and the rest just flat out said no.

My question is if you use wheel weights, do you pay for them? If so, whats a fair price per bucket? I found a guy online that is selling them for $30/bucket but its 2.5 hours away.

[collyer]

I pay 10.00 to 20.00 for 5 gal bucket of lead. One place wanted 50.00 fora 5 gal bucket.

[smkummer]

15 to $20 here. Some Big O tire shops want you to have a recycling certification. I may look into that.

[44fanatic]

I went to a local Firestone dealer and I had the impression that they would have given them to me if they could. He sold them to me at the local recycling price of $0.30 per lb. 150lb bucket for $45. He was also interested in selling me their other bucket.

My impression when I walked out was that his shop had to take the time and effort to get the WW to the recycler. I saved him that time and effort. My money also went into the till and he gave me a receipt.

[jimmeyjack]

On the way home last week I went by the local place we buy our tires at and asked about lead for sale. The owner told me a guy had just picked up all he had and to come back in a week. yesterday I swung by and he GAVE me a 5 gallon bucket for FREE! He said to wait a couple weeks and he would have more for me. His tire prices are better or the same as online too. He also told me after they exhaust their supply of lead weights thats it, but will still keep lead ones as they take them off.

[BSkerj]

I get mine for free, but my supplier is slowly getting more and more steel mixed in with his. I am grabbing as much as I can. I currently have 1300 lbs smelted into ingots and a 55 gallon drum 3/4's full with WW's...about 20-30 percent steel. I probably will not ever shoot that much lead but as long as he keeps giving them to me I will take them.

[cabezaverde]

I have never paid. Bought a few lunches or returned a favor though.

[grumman581]

I had a tire shop give me a 5g bucket of wheel weights a couple of weeks ago after I bought a set of tires and rims from them. So, I guess you could say that I paid $1200 for that 5g bucket.:-)

The bucket was full of a bunch of crud though -- various types of wheel weights (clip-on, stick-on, zinc, steel), lug nuts, dust, etc... It all floats up in the smelt though... I figure that I get about 50-60% of some sort of alloy after the smelt. So far, I've cast 1700 bullets from that batch (the first 1400 without even adding a trace of extra tin) with 2-cavity molds and so far, they seem to be looking pretty good. I think that just maybe adding about 4" of solder to a 20# pot makes them look a bit better, but my eyesight is not good enough close up to definitively make this claim -- probably need to examine them under a magnifying glass.

I am definitely wishing that I had bought the 6-cavity bullet molds instead of the 2-cavity ones though.

[Tazman1602]

Still piling up the 5 gallon buckets up here from every shop I know. I'm an old mechanic in this town and most of the shops take care of me -- I had the first one (new owner, doesn't know me) tell me today they sell their weights to a recycler for .37/pound.

.......my days of free WW are fast coming to a close, actually for all of us it's fast coming to a close as soon as lead gets scarce and valuable enough for the shops to sell.

Just picked up a five gallon bucket yesterday for free............

[jakkyl]

My roommate works at a tire shop and I have a couple other friends that work at them too, as I used to be a mechanic so I know some people. They let me know when they have a good amount and I swing by and pick them up for free. Sweet deal.

[jkkfam89]

I get it for free luckily. I go to a local tire shop and bring donuts.

[mpmarty]

5 gallon bucket $50.00 and a free bucket.

[Steel185]

i read this post yesterday and made some calls today, I made 6 calls before i found one that said, "sure we have a 6 gallon bucket and another 3 gallon bucket, take all you want. Just bring your own buckets". Now i have to figure out sorting them out. This will be my first time casting.

the local tire shops were much more friendler on what i wanted, i just had to find one that didn't already have a boolit guy working it, or working there.

Good luck!

[hammerhead357]

I have paid 10 cents per pound for WW and I have gotten them for free. I have also passed on some that wanted 100.00 per bucket. My oldest son works at a shop that does tire and wheel sales and mechanic work. I went by the other day and got 3 5 gal. buckets of WW for free. But I supply the owner with fishing weights for no charge. So things can be hit or miss.
At another shop I traded a box of fishing weights of about 15 lbs for a 5 gal. bucket of WW. Good trade as far as I am concerned....Wes

[penguinchicken]

$18
And as an added bonus you get 3/4 steel weights!
I only wound up with 12lbs out of the last bucket.

[RNyogi]

'nuthin. My brothers a mechanic. :castmine:

[Jon]

Usually I pay about $20. It does pay to ask what they want for it first. Sometimes they will give it to you. Although a little financial incentive helps for next time. :-)

I got tired of looking, and started berm mining at the range. I can get 50lbs in 30 min or so of sifting.

[mpmarty]

I tried that berm mining thing. All the rounds impacting around me made me quite nervous.:groner:

[selmerfan]

$15 for a bucket yesterday

[David2011]

I went to a local tire shop where I had bought wheelweights before. Thought I paid a little too much last time but was willing to try again. They had a bucket inside another bucket. The seller said it was about 150 pounds and he would have to have $50 for it. Then he said he needed to make a call. Came back and said he would have to get $80 for it. I have one source for free but am willing to buy some as well to stock up but not at over $0.50/lb! I think he's trying to get clean lead proces for wheelweights.

David

[prs]

My local shop is real good to me 'casue I am a good customer for them. Plus, they get a good number of those big truck/bus weights.

prs

[hammerhead357]

I forgot to add in my last post that I do go buy some WW at a small salvage yard near where I live and have paid as high as 23 cents per lb. but I don't get any junk in them. Also pickup pure lead here also. Now if I could just pickup some time at a cheap price....Wes

[Tbolt]

Just started gathering wheel weights, and I paid $30.00CDN for my first 20L (5 gallon?) bucket.
Finished sorting it yesterday and only found a dozen that are steel.
I didn't find any that appeared to be Zinc but I guess I'll see once I start smelting.
I still have to get the equipment though.
is there any way aside from the weight being marked with Zn to tell if it is Zinc?

[deerslayer]

You can cut each one with a pair of diagonal cutters. Or drop them and listen to the different sounds. But I just melt the the lead ones out and skim off the floating zinc and clips. I am to lazy to do it any other way.

[XWrench3]

i have been paying $20.00 - $30.00 per 5 gallon bucket where i live. it seems there are an unusually large amount of casters of one sort or another in my area. so i have to look pretty hard, and vary the time of month to get one pail per month. that keeps up with my habit, with a little extra to build up a stockpile. i am going to try to have a 1000 pound stash for when times get real tough, and wheel weights, along with all lead is hard to find. it is strange that something that most people want nothing to do with is so hard to find for those of us who do.