Tire weights getting the lead out

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2008 | by Sharon Silke Carty

DETROIT -- The little lead weights clipped on the outer rim of your vehicle's wheels may be the biggest source of lead put into the environment each year, and they may soon be on their way out.

The Environmental Protection Agency today will recognize a group of tire retailers (including Wal-Mart and Costco), government-related entities (including the Postal Service and Air Force) and auto manufacturers that have agreed to phase out lead wheel weights by 2011.

The little gray weights about the size of a pinky finger are used to balance the wheels so they don't vibrate when they rotate and so tires don't wear improperly.

They can fall off wheels, however, and get crunched into dust -- floating into the air and washing into the groundwater. Lead is a...