Wheel Weights By Location

[Bigslug]

Just a quick informal poll:

What state / location of state or country are you in?
Is wheel weight scrounging still worth your time?
Time frame of the change (if any)?
Alloy you're switching to (if any)?

Here in SoCal, I've lucked into two free stashes of the old stuff from coworkers who knew I was looking, but have never actually gone out seeking them, figuring it was futile in the present day. I found an old 3-5 ouncer on a Jeep trail while hunting two years ago and felt like I had just tripped over the Ark of the Covenant while going to 7-11 for a chips run. About to cast my first mix of range scrap & Superhard as a surrogate.

[glockfan]

well,i partly live in vermont in the winter and ontario,canada in the spring-summer time ....then get back in vermont for the fall-cold season.

in canada, i can stop by any car repair shop and claim as many buckets of WW i want. most are 5 gallons buckets,and it is most of the time 60% lead and the rest is iron-nickel-zinc.

in vermont? pfffft. i don't do any of my WW '''shoping''' there, but i know that it would be close to impossible to find as much lead WW as north of the border. i'm guessing laws regarding lead and environnement are differents.

however,i find the WW collecting a little bothersome, and i contacted a foundry who would sell me 92-6-2 for 3.00 usd a pound !! it is not cheap, and i started casting because i have 2 guns to feed (wife started to shoot ipsc-uspsa too) and it is costy,so i'm gonna try to keep my ww collecting habit alive for now,but i might eventually turn my back , in favor of the
said foundry's product .

[solman]

I live in NJ. Lead COWW has been a no go for years now. I grabbed half a 5 gal bucket of WW recently because I could. After sorting it out I had maybe 2 doz lead weights the rest was mostly zinc. I work in the auto repair field and used WW are plentiful but they are no longer made of lead. I don't even bother anymore and I am right in the shop. Have gone to purchasing and begging to get lead these days.

[Flailguy]

I'm in Bakersfield California. So far I've got 1 good haul abou 500lbs of lead (more than that of Zink and steel mixed in) but mu brother knows the owner of the shop. No luck anywhere else.

[wddodge]

I'm in northwest Ohio. I work in an auto dealership and get about 1 5 gal bucket a year after sorting. The decline started about 6-7-8 years ago and is not getting any better. The other tire shops/repair shops that I've checked want $30-$50 for an unsorted bucket so I've quit looking.

[Arkansas Paul]

I'm in central Arkansas and it is definitely changing. Five years ago I would buy a bucket of wheel weights and it was probably 10-15% zinc or steel. I could easily net 100-110 pounds of ingots from a full 5 gallon bucket.

I got a bucket this weekend and it was probably 40% steel and zinc. I only netted about 70 pounds of lead. Now I'm not complaining about this particular bucket, because it was given to me by a friend who owns a tire shop, so if it had been 3/4 steel it would still be worth sorting through and I appreciate him giving them to me.
But it does point to the way things are going.

I used to be willing to pay $40-$50 for a full bucket. Not anymore if this most recent bucket is indicative of how they all are now.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Here in Michigan you can still do well scrounging for weights. I have stopped due to deterorating health. My friend has a car dealership and gave me the weight throw away pail when it got full for free. I stopped taking them since I already have at least 5 full overflowing pails of hand sorted weights and a full pail and one half of unsorted just sitting there. I have already about 100 +/- lbs in ingots of WW so I doubt I`ll run out anytime soon. Sadly the percentage of non lead weights I was getting was approaching about 40% of the 5 gal. pail. Best of luck in locating WW around you.Robert

[lightman]

I'm in South Central Arkansas. The lead ratio in used wheel weights is still holding up pretty well. Somewhat better than 60% I would say. I'm in a small town and the shop that I use gives them to me, so it is still worth while for me. I also have a pretty good network of friends who are always looking out for me! Even in our State the bigger shops have contracts to sell their used weights or they already have a "Guy". Most of the bigger scrap yards will not sell to the public either. Hitting on smaller scrap yards and smaller tire shops has always been more productive for me. The yield probably changed for the worst maybe 10 years ago. I probably have a lifetime supply but I also have a stock of Isotope containers that makes a good bullet. I also have a stash of cable sheathing and printers type that can be alloyed together. If I were not sitting on a decent stash I probably would buy my lead a 1000# at a time from RotoMetals. Probably 96-2-2 or Lyman #2.

[Soundguy]

can't get wheel weights anywhere I have found in central florida. adition ally, the last scrapper in my area buys only, won't sell.

I have to get lucky and find lead from casters estates, or people moving. :(

[Arkansas Paul]

I'm in South Central Arkansas. The lead ratio in used wheel weights is still holding up pretty well. Somewhat better than 60% I would say. Probably 96-2-2 or Lyman #2.


That's good to hear.
Hopefully I just got one stray bucket, and like I said, it was free, so anything was a gift.

[USSR]

I'm getting 100% lead wheel weights from my local scrap yard for $.40 per pound.:bigsmyl2:

Don

[CastingFool]

Last fall, a friend who owns a repair shop gave me a 5 gal bucket that was about 2/3 full of ww's. After sorting, I ended up with 2-1/4 gallons of raw ww's. At the time, I told him I would bring him some venison. I fulfilled my promise about a month ago.

[lightman]

At the time, I told him I would bring him some venison. I fulfilled my promise about a month ago.

Good on you! This should result in more weights in the future!

[MaryB]

Rural SW MN, local co-op tire operation. They do a LOT of semi trailer tires for the farmers who trash them in the field or when coming out of the field and they run over roadside trash. Still running about 90% lead and mostly 2oz and above weights.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

If I had to switch alloy's?
I'd use range scrap for plink'n fun
and Pure (or near pure) lead, blended with type metal for anything else...blend to suit the application.

[dale2242]

A local Chevron station sells WWs for $50 for a five gallon bucket.
I live in SW Oregon 12 miles from the California border.
I have not bought any myself but sorted and smelted a bucket for a friend.
There was a lot of zinc and steel plus stickons, which I only use for sinkers.
I didn`t pencil it out but seems like a fairly bad deal....dale

[jessdigs]

I pulled in about 5 or 6 full buckets in norcal the other day, but they were being horded by an older gentleman, and he recently passed. I got them for free though. I wasn't actively looking, my father in law found them and called me. Mixed, mostly COWW with some SOWW, no steel or zinc so far.
To say they are old is an understatement. They are so old that they buckets they were stored in disintegrated when I touched them. I had to transfer them over to other containers. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180327/fd7fd852dafe5d980cdaf71ecd89bb48.jpg

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[Soundguy]

If I had to switch alloy's?
I'd use range scrap for plink'n fun
and Pure (or near pure) lead, blended with type metal for anything else...blend to suit the application.

i bought 50-60# of range scrap last year to do the same. cast the scrap for plinkers.. alloy my straight lead for 'real' stuff.

[D Crockett]

here in Florida in some places you can not get any but in others you can still get them last time I went hunting ww I ended up driving over a 100 miles away before I found some they are getting harder and harder to find here D Crockett

[Bazoo]

Here in ky, wheel weights are available. I paid 30 a bucket from a local tire place that turned out to be 60% or so usable weights. I had a buddy that worked a tire place, and they sold him the buckets for 5 each. I lost my hook up though. I aint good at BSing my way into them free and I dont drink, so I aint comfortable paying my way with a case of beer.

[Soundguy]

Here in ky, wheel weights are available. I paid 30 a bucket from a local tire place that turned out to be 60% or so usable weights. I had a buddy that worked a tire place, and they sold him the buckets for 5 each. I lost my hook up though. I aint good at BSing my way into them free and I dont drink, so I aint comfortable paying my way with a case of beer.

all of our local ma and pa tire shops are gone. it's only chain stores now.. and they all have epa? / lead/ collection places and paperwork to deal with.. no way to scrounge buckets. :(

[Mitch]

I still find ww here but the % of good lead has gone down in the last 6 or 7 Years.I would say i use to get about 80% now arounf 60 to 75 % on the last bucket.I find alot more SOWW then i use to.I have always hit the scrap yards that will sell and had good luck there with finding alot of pure or almost pure.Mostly in the form of sheet, sheathing and pipe.Lately i have takein to getting my lead tested so i kow for sure what i have so not to waste alot of alloying metal just guessing.From what i real here about the testing of coww looks like to old formulat of 50/50 coww and pure + 2% tin will give you something close to 2.2%tin 1.5% antimony.So i have mixed some allot from othere things besides coww t get the same content and it works well for me.I will never turn down ww in a good deal but i dont look for them anymore.

[RogerDat]

Michigan - still worth getting but it can be hit or miss with some tire stores simply a waste of time. Others that do more older cars having a decent supply. I have been building up a supply, buying more when I can afford it and have around 1000# of COWW accumulated. From there on it has been cast 50# and get a bucket, used to be that was pretty close to replacing the 50# and adding 40# now not so much lead. Best I can do on price is about 40 cents a pound with whatever lead percentage I get. So more and more my focus has been on spending money on either premium alloy like type, or pewter because scrounging turns up mostly soft lead.

Starting to re-think that in favor of putting money into primers, molds, powder. That $35 worth of lead alloy is 1k primers, or a pound of powder, or 1/2 of the cost of a mold. I guess I figure I'm less likely to run out of lead than the other stuff. But man I wish I could snag as much of the lead I see as I have room to store! Told my wife that if I die you sell it and pay someone to do the yard work for the next several years :-)

I too have some reluctance to purchase alcohol for tire store or scrap yard employees, not that I don't drink just don't want to be responsible for them getting into trouble with say the boss or busted for open container in car. Donuts or $5 pizza solve that problem and it does seem appreciated. Especially on Saturday when the roach coach doesn't come through with snacks.

[MaryB]

I should mention, I get mine free because I repair electronics for the guys in the shop as a favor. Plus I drop off some cast 45acp for one of them once in awhile. 500 for him lasts 6 months or more so I don't have to do a lot.

[Uncle Grinch]

Here in middle Georgia, I used to be able to get WW’s either free or by slipping one of the tire guys a $20. Now they either reuse or recycle. Over the years I’ve managed to acquire about 700 lbs of WW’s. One of my best finds was from the garage of a large mill that serviced its semi’s, I got two buckets of large hotdog size WW’s.

[Ateam]

Norhtern Michigan is still good, maybe 85% lead, alot more stick ons lately. I have three tire shops I work with, they are all used tire/ auto parts salvage guys, and appreciate the occasional box of doughnuts/ cast 45acp as incentive to keep them for me. I also bring a bucket with my name and number on it to make it easy for them. I cast the zinc into various things in the shop, and scrap the steel weights back to the scrap yard for the same price I pay the tire shops (17 cents/lb) so that makes all my buckets 100% right?

[jeepyj]

My area you can still get them in a few garages but the % of lead has become very low. The last full 5 gallon pail ended up with 14 lbs before smelting. Not saying I don't still sort a few however I'm not so eager as I used to be about it.

[Big Boomer]

Southern Ky. - have a deal with two local tire shops. One just gives them to me. I call and they say come and get them. I used to take the scrap steel and zinc weights back to them but don't any more. The other tire shop I have one of the owners is a shooter and he come to my place and loads as much ammo as he wants from the boolits I cast and lube with a Star sizer. Only cost to me is primers and powder. Brass is range pick-up. Big Boomer

[Soundguy]

My area you can still get them in a few garages but the % of lead has become very low. The last full 5 gallon pail ended up with 14 lbs before smelting. Not saying I don't still sort a few however I'm not so eager as I used to be about it.

wow.. 14# out of a bucket.. I hear ya about not being eager to sort them.

[evoevil]

Maryland, grabbing what I can before they ban them. I got 450 lbs so far, Need more ..........LOL. I get about 75% lead and the rest zink and steel. Just started getting them from a Big truck tire shop. The weights are hugh

[DGV]

Massachusetts. Not much longer. In 10-15 years we will all be buying lead and using up our stash. This is one instance where hoarding will pay off. Get all you can while you can. Lead can be stacked like cordwood and last forever! Lead is plentiful, but will only get more expensive in the future. 25 years ago you could get Linotype for next to nothing. Now I see prices of 2+ dollars/Lb. I have a friend who has a stash of around 11,000 lbs of smelted WW. yes, 11,000 lbs. I am most certain that number can be beat by some members on this forum.

[fredj338]

About a year after they banned the lead ww here I gave up. I had a good supplier, 5gal bucket a month for $20. A year after the buckets were about 1/2 lead 1/2 steel & zinc. Then he wanted to start charging more?? Nope. If you find a big haul & need some help, drop a post, glad to help haul away anything you find. I'm also in SoKal

[MaryB]

Here in middle Georgia, I used to be able to get WW’s either free or by slipping one of the tire guys a $20. Now they either reuse or recycle. Over the years I’ve managed to acquire about 700 lbs of WW’s. One of my best finds was from the garage of a large mill that serviced its semi’s, I got two buckets of large hotdog size WW’s.

Love those truck weights that are 2oz and up. Biggest I had was an 8 ouncer!! Half a pound in one weight. Think the tire guy messed up and didn't get the mud out of the rim when he balanced it. He no longer works there because that tire was back in 3 days. I just happened to be there both times ordering a set of tires then having them put on.

[Hairy Dawg]

Georgia, last few buckets I've gotten have been doing good to get 50-60#, however, a few tire shops I've been to have given them to me for free. The battery companies used to buy the weights from the tire shops, but I don't think they do that anymore, so now they have to haul them off themselves, and a lot of them don't like to do that.

[Cue]

Picked up a 5 gal bucket the other day, I havent seen much around here though anymore. I change a lot of tires as well at work and dont run into many lead ones anymore.

[Bookworm]

Oklahoma - paid $30 for an almost full bucket at a small town tire shop.

Got 84 lbs of CWW, 5 1/2 lbs of SWW. That's ingot weight, after rendering. Didn't weigh the Zn or Fe, just a few pounds each.

I have to admit, that's more the exception, rather than the rule. And, I can get a bucket from them only once a year.