Got my first wheel weights

[mrappe]

I had a flat tire on Saturday so today I went to a Discount Tire and had to buy a new tire. I told the sales guy that i was interested also in used wheel weights and he told me that they could not give or sell them since they had an agreement with the company that recycles them. I told hime that I wanted the old ones that came off of my own wheel. So I got two wheel weights... Yippee! Unfornunatly every store I talk to here will not give them away or sell them. Also, It appears that all of the scrapyards that i can find here are only interested in recieving metals for recycling and not selling them to the public.

[Kskybroom]

Keep Trying Never Give Up You Will Score........

[fredj338]

Welcome to the new world order. Lead is becoming the new whipping boy for the EPA. I see all ead ww being banned nationwide within two years & then all will be gone two years after that (about what a set of tires last on average). So get what you can now, stack it deep. Try smaller mom & pop tire shops, not the big chain stores. Keep checking them though. I go to a Midas shop near my office for oil change I have been asking for almost two years about ww. The new manager gave me 2 5gal buckets last time I asked! He got a 12pack of his fav beer for that one. So ya just never know.

[imashooter2]

A place that turned me away for years became a source when the wife asked. So apparently the secret is to be wearing a skirt when you bring up the subject.

Heck, last time she was there just to get a flat fixed. In a hurry and not even thinking about WW. The mechanic came running out of the garage with a bucket as she was leaving.

[Jailer]

Do as the others have said and keep looking. I scoured the entire county and found 2 places that would even give any up. One place charges $10/5 gallon bucket and just by dumb luck the place 7 miles down the road from me gives them away.

My first day of scrounging netted me 1 1/2 pails. Tried again the other day and got about 1/4 pail. Keep at it you'll eventually score some.

[skeet1]

mrappe,

I know how hard it is to find wheel weights. I have gone to every tire dealer in town and I didn't find any that were willing to let me have or buy any. Six months or so later I went back to one of the dealers I had asked previously and the manager gave me a five gallon bucket. Previously they told me that they had a deal with one of the battery companies but but this time they told me the battery company was not very reliable about picking them up. So far I have gotten five buckets full from them. After getting the wheel weights I always take back a dozen doughnuts for the guys at the shop.

The reason I'm telling you this is don't give up keep trying and when someone does finally gives you some make sure you make it known to them how much you appreciate it.

Skeet1

[chris in va]

Try this one on for size.

Talked with a guy at a gun store about reloading, he mentioned casting his own boolits. I told him lead was getting scarce, he piped up that he's responsible for grabbing all the wheelweights in three counties and has roughly 8000# sitting in his garage. Really made me angry.

[a.squibload]

BS detector should have gone off.
I used to work in a gun store, wouldn't believe what stuff they used to tell the customers.
Left-handed scope rings, etc.

[luvtn]

Ok, I am sure this has been brought up before. I just can't locate it. I am finding wheel weights on the road that are purty and marked AW. Are they useful or do they have the dreaded zinc?
luvtn

[canyon-ghost]

American Wheel, they're lead (partly, they are newer weights).

[luvtn]

So the ones marked AW are good to use ?
luvtn

[Dennis Eugene]

Yes the ones marked AW are good to use. I believe that it means they are made and painted for aluminum wheels but have been wrong befor.
A place that turned me away for years became a source when the wife asked. So apparently the secret is to be wearing a skirt when you bring up the subject.

Heck, last time she was there just to get a flat fixed. In a hurry and not even thinking about WW. The mechanic came running out of the garage with a bucket as she was leaving.



No the secret is not in the wearing of a skirt, that will only get you beat up and arrested. Don't ask me how I know. Dennis :oops:

[WILCO]

Keep Trying Never Give Up You Will Score........

+1. Also seek out the mechanic types who work out of their garage. Chances are they do tires too. I've gotten WW's from folks like that.

[TheGrimReaper]

I bought some 180ibs yesterday for 0.25 a ibs.

[skytex]

I'm in the dry boat. I got about 40lbs from one shop and that is it. Ive been hunting about 3 months. I have called or visited literally every single tire shop, new/used car dealership, junkyard, and recycling center within 100 miles. I'm in Waco and have streched as far as D/FW and Austin. I may have missed some in the two big cities but none in the smaller. It's almost got me to the point of selling my shotmaker setup and just buying reclaimed shot from San Antonio.

[*Paladin*]

Don't get too discouraged! I was getting a bit depressed over the lack of shops around here that would give up WW's. Keep at it. You'll find the places that will at least sell them. I got what will be around 100lbs by the time it's gone through and smelted, for $15 today. So the lead is out there. I ran an ad on Craigslist for a long time, which didn't turn up much lead, but it did get me a connection for linotype for $1 a pound. Craigslist sucks tho, because I had people flagging my ads all the time. Like it's illegal to buy lead. Probably tree huggers, environmental nuts I guess...

[garbear]

A place that turned me away for years became a source when the wife asked. So apparently the secret is to be wearing a skirt when you bring up the subject.

Heck, last time she was there just to get a flat fixed. In a hurry and not even thinking about WW. The mechanic came running out of the garage with a bucket as she was leaving.

Same type of thing in my town.

[corey012778]

went by my source to see if they had any, I was 2 days too late, an guy that cast up his own sinkers beat me to them, they told me to come back in two weeks. that was an week ago,