cost of wheel weights

[45pro]

So i went to EVERY shop in town today to see if i could pick up some wheel weights. All but one had a deal with someone already and would not sell to me. The one shop said a guy comes by every month or so and pays $75 per 5 gallon bucket of mixed wheel weights and would sell to first come first serve. There was 2 there, I didnt buy them. Sounded WAY to steep for me. I'm not real sure how much i should pay actually, so what the "average" 5 gallon bucket full going for these days?

[cbrick]

I've never had to buy any WW, still have about 750 pounds left from the good old days. $75 a bucket and the price per pound would vary quite a bit, I've got about 60 pounds of useable ingots from a bucket and also 150 pounds from a bucket full. All depends on what's in the bucket.

As hard as they are becomming to get I guess what they are worth to you would depend a lot on your wallet. See what others post about what they are paying.

Rick

[sharpshooter81]

I just got 4 buckets for free!! they even loaded em in my car lol

[Exclr8]

I get an average of 100 lbs usable and pay $30/bucket. However there seems to be more and more Fe in there.

[45pro]

$30 a bucket? Anyone else pay about that?

[fredj338]

Yep, I used to pay $20 for a 3gal bucket, about 110#. Then some guy comes in & offers $50. With the buckets getting lighter every year, @ 50% return, not worth the $20 anymore, much less $50. If you get 70# of useable lalloy, that is $1/#. Still within reason, but you'll be lucky to get much over 50% w/ todays zinc & steel.

[trixter]

Here it is $50.00 for 5 gallon bucket of mixed weights. I got about half in the last one I got.

[nonferrous]

I always felt that if I could get WW's for .25 a pound, that was fair. Even if they offered them for free I would always bring back donuts or Pizza. I feel that extended my in with the guys. I have all but stopped begging for them anymore because almost all the shops are so tied up by the EPA that they dont dare.
Whenever I buy something from one of these places I always make it a part of the deal, they always find a way. New car, 300 pounds and counting.
If 1.00 seems high, try buying alloy. While I was piling it up I asked everywhere I went. You have to swallow your pride and get used to rejection, but sooner or later you will score, there is no set order to the process anymore.

[Roger Ronas]

Just was offered 2 5 gallon buckets full for the scrap price he gets at the yard. .50 lb. I'm going tomorrow to pickup. I've gotten about 6-8 buckets full free over the last 6 months so paying for these doesn't hurt to much.
I'm going to figure about 100 lbs per bucket and see what he says.
Roger

[Silvercreek Farmer]

I pay $20 for a three gallon bucket 7/8's full. They are probably around 100 lbs before cleaning. I net close to 75 lbs out of one of these buckets or roughly $.25 per lb. Higher yeild than what some have said, maybe they still use more Pb in NC. A true 5 gallon bucket full would probably weigh nearly 200 lbs full, and would be quite a handful.

Cool thing is, I turned 200+ lbs of clean ww lead into wheel weights for my tractor, so if I ever get desperate, I can just pop one off and melt it down!

The local scrap yard sells WW ingots for .50 a lb.

[onesonek]

5 gal. bucket for the last one was a case of beer here.
Works best in the summer when its 100 degrees in the shade,,, lol

[SquirrelHollow]

I've been trying, quite hard, to find a reliable source around here. To date, I haven't found a single shop that will sell them to me.
The most common excuses are:
1. My wheel weight supplier requires me to turn in all of the weights we take off. I can't sell them.
2. Lead is a hazardous material. We can't sell it.
3. We have a guy that pays us $7,809 / lb. (I exaggerated, of course.) If you can't beat that, you don't get any.
4. I make fishing sinkers out of them.


However... I did find a local scrap yard that is willing to sell at what I view as a decent price (for this area). Raw, mixed WW go for $0.25 to 0.35 / lb (no thanks - it's more than 50% zinc). But, the better deal is on sorted WWs: $0.60 to 0.85 / lb for lead alloys, guaranteed not to have zinc or steel weights.

I know some people find that stupidly expensive, but I'm happy with it.

[bumpo628]

The last $50 five gallon bucket I got only yielded about 80 lbs of lead weights. It also had about 50 lbs of iron and 10 lbs of zinc. After lugging them home, sorting, and smelting, it is just not worth it anymore. I can buy ingotized lead here for about the same price as I'm getting from the tire shop. Scrap yards around here won't sell to the public, so I'm glad I have a good stockpile already.

[mstarling]

Two years ago a bucket was $15. Got the last two buckets for $30 each. Yield of alloy seems to be about constant. Might be that the shop is chucking the obviously steel stuff.

Certainly is not getting easier.

Have about 1000 pounds of alloy ... and some pure lead to mix for hollow points. Will add as I am able.

[MikeS]

Maybe I'm just lazy, but it seems to me that scrounging for wheel weights isn't worth it anymore. Due to the increased use of iron & zinc wheel weights that amount of usable weights continues to go down every day. For around $1.00/lb there are several vendors here that sell various alloys of lead right here in the swapping & selling forum. Buying lead from somebody here means you'll probably get good alloy with no zinc in it, and it much easier to do this, rather than waste gas (not cheap) driving all over town looking for wheel weights.

[bowhunter]

i pay 25.00 for a 5 gal. bucket.

[SquirrelHollow]

Maybe I'm just lazy, but it seems to me that scrounging for wheel weights isn't worth it anymore. Due to the increased use of iron & zinc wheel weights that amount of usable weights continues to go down every day. For around $1.00/lb there are several vendors here that sell various alloys of lead right here in the swapping & selling forum. Buying lead from somebody here means you'll probably get good alloy with no zinc in it, and it much easier to do this, rather than waste gas (not cheap) driving all over town looking for wheel weights.

It's cheaper for me to spend up to $20 in gas to pick up 200-400 lbs of scrap from the recycler, than it is to pay CB members to ship it to me, from all over the country.
Part of that is, of course, because going to the recycler means I'm not just after WWs. They have all kinds of ingots, lead sheet, isotope containers, and other alloys available. And it pays to smelt it myself -- the dirtier it is, the better the price.

As you said though... it is not worth it, to drive all over town for small amounts of mixed WWs.

[dRok]

I started collecting WW's recently, unfortunately many places are locked down by buyers already, but I have had some luck. Got some free and paid for some, most I have paid is $50 for a 5gal bucket. Luckily around here, the whole iron/zinc thing hasnt caught on well yet and 95% are lead alloy still. Ive got about 1000 lbs to smelt on hand now.

[Exclr8]

Stopped by my tire store lead supplier today. It has been about three months since i was there. He only had one bucket for me. Usually he has four or five sitting around. Says more and more cars are coming in with iron weights. I think i will invest in building a bullet trap.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Of the 20+ sources of WW within 20 miles of me.
I have two tire shops locked in, I trade 9mm handloads for WW to one and
the other will sell them for $40 per full 5 gal. bucket...they both refuse others.

One auto junkyard will sell them at the metal salvage yards price of the day,
last visit was 43¢ a lb.

lastly, I have a friend who hobbies in scrap metal, as he collects it,
he holds it for me til he has a at least 100 lbs,
he asks 50¢ a lb. So far the WW he gets are OLD.
I told him I won't pay 50¢ for newer looking WW cause of the FE and zinc.
He said if I get an overly large amount of that, he'll buy it back.

[boltons75]

Was at a tire shop today having a sensor checked out, and inquired about some ww, the guy was ready to give me a box but was told by a co worker that he couldn't. Stopped by 4 other shops, and all said corporate policy wouldn't let them.

Always carry, never tell.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Big -O told me today they were getting $40. for the little black buckets (15-20lbs. I would guess) from the battery manufacturing people.:Fire::Fire:

[finishman2000]

found a scrap yard that has a couple of tons of ww's. .46 a pound. i've bought over 900lbs in the last 3 weeks off them. i normanlly pay $20 a 5 gal pail from some local tire shops but finding it easier just to pay the .46 and be done with it. figure i better buy the lead weights while i can.

with the 900 lbs i had 210lbs of steel clips and other metal stuff (weights, lugs, bolts, razors etc) which i sold back at .10 a lb.

[dRok]

Whats with the big tire shops refusing to sell wheel weights to the public? Are they getting pressure from the Federal Govt? One place even told me it is illegal for them to sell to the public, not just against policy like most places say now. Last I heard lead is not a controlled substance...

[GLL]

Here in southern California it is simply not worth the time, cost, and gas money to drive all over town to get a small quantity of WW ! Some days I would find none ! It is now cheaper to "mix" my own with lead, Sn, and Sb. Actually it is much better since I know the exact composition and there are no clips, iron , or zinc to deal with ! :) My biggest expense is getting the SuperHard Sb alloy at Rotometals. Great stuff though and nice people to deal with !

Jerry

[cbrick]

Here in southern California it is simply not worth the time, cost, and gas money to drive all over town to get a small quantity of WW ! Some days I would find none ! It is now cheaper to "mix" my own with lead, Sn, and Sb. Actually it is much better since I know the exact composition and there are no clips, iron , or zinc to deal with ! :) My biggest expense is getting the SuperHard Sb alloy at Rotometals. Great stuff though and nice people to deal with! Jerry

That's my take on it exactly. I no longer actively seek WW, if I am at a place I'll ask but I no longer go out looking, just no longer worth the gas & effort.

While I am currently doing pretty good with WW, about 750 pounds of clip-on in 5 pound ingots and 800 pounds in stick-on 5 pound ingots I did a bunch of experimenting a year or so ago with Roto Metals Super Hard. I found it very easy to turn the stick-on weights into a clip-on duplicate effectively giving me over 1500 pounds of my most used alloy. That'll do me for awhile. :mrgreen: If all of that were cast into my 188 gr match bullet it make over 55,000 bullets. Geez, I better get busy. [smilie=l:

Rick