how much do you pay for your lead?

They are really zinc. I don't find many since the majority of the non-lead ones I get are iron, but I know a guy who processes a lot of WWs and makes pure zinc ingots out of them for selling.
 
I have sorted through probably 3 pails of wheel weights and found maybe six weights that were neither lead nor steel. That's a pretty small number, and I think the whole zinc scare is mostly hot air.
 
BattleRife said:
I have sorted through probably 3 pails of wheel weights and found maybe six weights that were neither lead nor steel. That's a pretty small number, and I think the whole zinc scare is mostly hot air.
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Last summer when smelting my "stash" of newly aquired WW material I had 1 full 5 galon pail that contained almost 5 lbs of (hot air) you can take a chance and get lucky, or be vigilant and save the greif of not ruining a whole pot full of castable alloy ! Keep your temp. at or just below 700 deg. F and skim off all that does not melt ! It is getting harder to come by and I for one treasure evry bit if it that I can find . YMMV !
 
Picked up a 3 gal pail the other day of ww paid $20.00

had to split it in to 2 containers to get it out of the trunk of my car
so sorted the top of a bucket to get the first 60 lb of WW
so App 4 lb steel ww/ lug nuts and other junk
app 3-4 lb of stick on soft ww
app 2 lb if zinc ww/ stick on

melted down the 60 lb of sorted ww and got 45 lb of ingots so about a 65 to 75 % recovery rate
the rest of the pail will melt another day

a 3 gal bucket will weigh about 90 to 110 lb ------> 60-80 lb if ingots when done
(I can't bend over and pick it by myself out of the trunk in case you were wondering)

and zinc ww are there mixed in and if you keep the heat down you will not melt them and can skim them out when you skim off the steel ww clips

have several pounds of zinc ingots
get more Zinc ww with every bucket-- I think the newer cars have more Zinc
 
Most of the shops I know only use lead weights. When I get weights from them its mostly lead, and the odd steel or zinc one they have taken off a car that has been balanced elsewhere. A lot of new vehicles are shipping with non lead weights from the factory. And I think some dealers are only installing non lead by choice.

Some guys get little or no zinc / steel in their buckets, some get half. It really depends on the local market where the tires are being balanced. I had a Dodge dealer give me a bunch of weights. I haven't sorted but I would say the majority of this batch are zinc. I believe pulled from newer cars factory set of tires when installing the first replacement set.
 
I usually only get about 2% zinc, and at one time I discarded them. I now melt them into ingots and save them. Once I have enough, I'll sell them along with scrap brass. Might even try some zinc bullets.
 
stock up on wheelweights as the word on a us casting site is saying that by the last of 2012 the major sites like new york and california will be ending the use of lead ww and the trend is starting to show as there are lots of steel and zinc showing up even in canada. it is only a matter of time before they run out, stock up while you have a chance.
 
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