Whats the story on these zinc wheelweights ?

[Patrick L]

I haven't really been paying attention to the zinc WW questions, but yesterday I embarked a on a WW run (my first in about 10 yrs) and I noticed some of the wheelweights are a beautiful shiny light grey, almost painted looking. Are these zinc wheelweights ?

What is the deal with them ? Do they need to be culled out, or will they not melt down and can be skimmed off with the clips and dirt, etc? Sorry to be so uninformed, but like I said I stopped collecting WWs about 10 yrs ago because I thought I'd accumulated a lifetime supply (har har.)

[drinks]

I get a few of those, so far, it has been a rubbery paint, the purpose is to match the color of aluminum and mag wheels.
The coating really stinks when you melt some, but the metal seems to be just wws.

[felix]

Zinc will squeal when stuck third to half way in a table grip, and then pulled over 90 degrees with a pair of pliars or vice grips. Another way to tell is to float the suspect on top of melt, and if it does not melt, or barely does melt into what looks like a pile of sh.t, then it is zinc laden, and should be scooped out. ... felix

[Finn45]

Test them with magnet, try Your knife and looky here:

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=2268

[carpetman]

felix---What is this table grip? I know people subsitute recipes,so I figured I would substitute a vise for a table grip. You aint gonna believe this but I have zinc contaminated cats running around here. Well they appear to be at this point but need to do more testing. Stick head in vise and remove with pliers and they squeal. I have not placed them on melt to see if they turn to poop. Before I do that I wanted to find out what a table grip is?

[StarMetal]

Another test is to compare it in weight to a same size wheelweight. The zinc one will be lighter.

Joe

[felix]

Table grip? In your situation, a pit bull would suffice! An English Bull would be a legit substitute. Perhaps a snapping turtle if no dog around. ... felix

[Headstamp]

At least that WW company identifies their Zinc weights with "Zn" molded in.