How Much Is Too Much For Wheel Weights

[jmort]

Since I have no access to lead alloy, COWW or otherwise, I buy certified alloy from foundries. I agree with the posts that time involved makes it a no-go. With the Zinc percentage going up, and continuing to go up, not worth my time. I would rather be picking up aluminum cans on the side of the road and sponging for rum. If I come across something at a scrap yard at a fair price I will smelt it. Otherwise, the certified foundry ingots go right into the Pro Melt.

[David2011]

Shops around here want $150 per bucket, that includes the cigarette but and zinc. If you can come out under a buck a pound you are doing well in my book. I will gladly pay $1 per pound for COWW..

About 8-9 years ago some joker at a tire store in Longview TX offered me his 2/3 full 5 gallon buckets that obviously had trash, chaw and zinc fir $180/bucket. He didn't understand the jargon of clean lead (much more valuable) and considered dirty WW to be the same as clean lead. I hope he still has them.

It's been a while since I had to obtain WW. Friends drop them off and I have a good collection right now. If I have to buy more I'll seek radiology containers and pre-cast WW ingots. I prefer WW to 92-6-2 alloy as I have other metal to make the alloys I want.

Anything more than $20-$30/bucket is too much considering the junk in them now.

[Bigbore5]

I just paid $100 for 800 pounds of wheel weights. Ended up with 518 pounds coww, 167 pounds soww. Took alot of time but since covid crap started I have had plenty of that. I am happy with the haul and have found another 8 buckets full for $20 a piece.

[Conditor22]

Beginners luck for $20 a bucket, everyone on here would be all over them Nice score.

[Tonto]

I got a set of new tires for our van, old tires were purchased three years ago and at that time I took home 6- 2/3 buckets of mixed weights. That load yielded about 180 pounds of clean metal with one pot load ruined by a zinc weight I missed while sorting. This time I took home 4 -2/3 buckets and will start sorting soon. I will pay close attention to the zinc too, keep them seperate and keep them for some as yet undefined project. So it cost me $600+ for four buckets fo mixed wheel weights with four tires thrown in. I think I'll get 100-125 pounds yield. I don't really need to alloy, I shoot into a trap but I still enjoy the smelting and the feeling I am recycling.

[tinsnips]

I get WW free from one of my customers. I jump to keep all the plumbing, heating,cooling and refrigeration running at there stores . I get paid on time,free WW they get right now service works great for both of us.

[wjhendo]

I've been paying $30-$40 per 5 gal bucket of WW's. The last bucket I bought was $30 and the SOWW and COWW combined from that bucket didn't even fill a 1gal milk jug. A few zinc weights but by far they were mostly iron. That was some expensive lead and probably the last WW's I will buy.

[Walstr]

I agree, with 9mm or 38's, but "plinking" with my 45 cal variety from ACP to 45-70, I'm happy to scrounge & adjust the alloy.
P.S. I look for Pewter as my tin source, and that is getting $$ too.

[gundownunder]

It would be useful for you to find out what the recycle yards in your area are paying the tyre shop for their scrap. Here in west Oz, last time I checked, the price was $80 for a 44 gallon drum. I'm willing to go double that because COWW + 2% tin, is perfect alloy for my needs. When other scrap users, like fishing sinker makers, drive up the price, I won't buy it.
Because of all the junk in the mix I need to hand sort to get straight COWW. As I'm sorting it by hand I sort the rest into batches as well, zinc, stick on lead, steel, junk. Get enough stick on lead in the mix, and you can make back all the bucks you paid by selling the stick on in buckets.
WARNING. Manual sorting the junk is the one job in bullet making that mandates a respirator. My pb blood tests confirmed it years ago.

[Agarbers]

The tire shops I have asked either already has someone taking them or they reuse them. I used to balance tires as a teenager and we never reused weights so that's odd to me and asking for a weight to fly off. I got a handful of a few WWs for my trouble of stopping but it seems like it just isn't worth the effort. A scrap yard I went to claimed they didn't resell lead to the public. I pick up what I can at local ranges and generally get 20-30 pounds each time.

[GoldieMI]

I pay .50/lb for reclaimed bullets from our indoor private range. the bullet traps funnel them into the 5 gallon buckets..so you know you are getting only bullets and jackets.
cheapest- no...but nice clean lead for the most part after smelting and skimming the jackets off.

[farmbif]

ive found more than 300 lbs of good clip on wheel weights along major highway exit ramps, ramps that go straight up to an overpass have been best as are exit ramps where there are major truck stops. I remember one exit ramp in Georgia that is a figure 8 made out of concrete I found about 60 lbs in the cracks of the concrete. having more time than money its an easy way to gather good alloy and get a break from driving while traveling. finding scrap yards that will sell to you are getting harder and harder to find. last good scrapyard I found I was able to get a 55 gallon drum about 3/4 full for $0.20lb, I think they screwed up and sold it to me for what they were paying for it. in the barrel were wheel weights, pure roofing lead and several pounds of 50/50 bar solder.
if I ever get low on stores and can't find more easily I think I'll put my nickles together and buy good clean alloy from rotometals.

[lightman]

ive found more than 300 lbs of good clip on wheel weights along major highway exit ramps, ramps that go straight up to an overpass have been best as are exit ramps where there are major truck stops. I remember one exit ramp in Georgia that is a figure 8 made out of concrete I found about 60 lbs in the cracks of the concrete. having more time than money its an easy way to gather good alloy and get a break from driving while traveling. finding scrap yards that will sell to you are getting harder and harder to find. last good scrapyard I found I was able to get a 55 gallon drum about 3/4 full for $0.20lb, I think they screwed up and sold it to me for what they were paying for it. in the barrel were wheel weights, pure roofing lead and several pounds of 50/50 bar solder.
if I ever get low on stores and can't find more easily I think I'll put my nickles together and buy good clean alloy from rotometals.

This has gotten to be a game with me and a buddy. He retired from farming a couple of years ago but has continued to help his boys, mostly by running parts for them. Some of these runs are out of town and even out of state if their need is great enough. Being retired, I often ride with him. If time allows he makes a lot of the exits along the way. We picked up almost a 5 gallon bucket of weights in 2020 along with several tools and 3 or 4 pins that hold the receiver hitch into the receiver on trailer hitches. I have a magnet on a stick and I snare a lot of them out of the window without getting out in traffic.

[SeabeeMan]

A pack of donuts and $20 is my normal limit. Figure in the propane for my bottom pour melter and time, and it just isn't worth it. I spent years building up a stock pile right as the zinc weights were starting to infiltrate the supply, then a day or 2 melting everything into ingots. Given the amount of useless zinc and other crud in the mix these days, I think I'd just buy clean alloy. Plenty of guys on here willing to share and there is often stuff in the Swappin' and Sellin' forum.

[Cucumbermonkey]

The place around here is $10 a bucket. Last batch was 2-3 buckets or 2 and 1 partial IIRC, and when all was said and done I had about 140lbs of lead ingots. I save the zinc, apparently it can be used, but I havent looked into it much at this point.
My most recent batch was 3 buckets, I havent smelted it into ingots yet, but I suspect it's going to yield about 160lbs.

[gbrown]

I guess I am one of the fortunate ones. Years ago, my father brought home lead from jobs closed out. He had about 200 lb. of pure lead which I inherited. Just sat in the garage for years. When I got back into casting, met people who gifted me buckets of wheelweights. Ran across a few more at tire stores here and there. Smelted it all down. Have a friend who has about 500 lb of monotype I can have, as needed. My roofer gifted me about 100 lb of "stacks". Another fellow gifted me about 30 feet of 4 inch pure lead drain pipe. Never had to pay a penny for my stash. I don't need to cast, I need to shoot more. I ain't bragging, I'm fortunate as said. You just have to think outside the box and explore every avenue you can think of. I've spent many hours going to tire shops anywhere I could find them. If you know roofers, talk to them. My neighbor had roof damage from Laura. I found out the roofing company is mine (for 3 roofs). You think I might talk to them when they show up?

[Sam Sackett]

I am still finding free wheel weights. I go out making my rounds once a month or so. The last trip I wound up with two 5 gallon buckets full. Once sorted out, they were about 30% stick on, 25% clip on and the rest steel and zinc. As long as I don't have to pay for them, except for a box of donuts here and there, I'll keep scrounging.

Sam Sackett

[pottergreg]

I just went through a full 5 gallon bucket of "wheel weights", after culling out the steel and zinc (took me about 4 hours), I got about 35 pounds of lead. The recycling center near me charges .75 cents per pound for lead, WW are barely worth fooling with IMHO.

[Epidote]

The tire shops I have asked either already has someone taking them or they reuse them. I used to balance tires as a teenager and we never reused weights so that's odd to me and asking for a weight to fly off. I got a handful of a few WWs for my trouble of stopping but it seems like it just isn't worth the effort. A scrap yard I went to claimed they didn't resell lead to the public. I pick up what I can at local ranges and generally get 20-30 pounds each time.

I worked for a while at a non-chain tire store when I was in college in the 1970s. The owner was a cheapskate, and I quit when he instructed me to install tube-type tires on a 240-Z but without the tubes. He wouldn't buy new wheel weights. We had to clean up the take-offs a little bit and bend the clips to stay on. When we didn't have the right size, we had to use a clipper to make the right size out of bigger ones. The clippings and some hopeless used weights got tossed. I wish I had those now.

I never expected my first real post here to be on used wheelweights. But I'm fixin' to smelt 5 gallons that my late brother gave me. All I need is some 6.5 mm 150 grain dies and a bunch of other things. . .