The 2009 “Learning Without Limits” team “Dead Weight” studied the environmental hazards of lead wheel weights used in balancing automotive tires. Our project was conceived in August of 2008 at an automotive service center when one of our team members noticed that the garage owner was discarding old used lead wheel weights in a dumpster destined for the local Iowa City landfill. We knew lead was a very dangerous toxic substance and wondered why this issue had not been addressed in a more serious manner before this time. We asked Dr. Hector Ibarra about the feasibility of studying lead wheel weights and their effect on our environment.

We wish to thank Dr. Hector Ibarra, our mentor who introduced us to Dr. Michael Wichman and the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory. Dr.Wichman assisted us in our project research and testing that was a major contributing factor in our team winning the first ever 2009 Siemen’s We Can Change the World Environmental Challenge. Our project and Dr. Michael Wichman’s research and testing results were later reviewed by world scientists at an August 9, 2009 United Nations youth science meeting and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, ultimately tipping the balance on August 26, 2009 in favor of the EPA ordering a formulation and implementation of new national rules to ban the sale and phase out the use of all lead wheel weights used in automotive tire balancing.

Typically, lead wheel weights are a mixture of 95% lead and 5% antimony and are clipped to the wheel rims of every vehicle in the United States to ensure tire balance and prevent vibration at high speeds. Since the 1930’s lead weights have been used to balance wheels worldwide because lead is cheap, heavy, easy to work with, and allows mechanics to use relatively small weights to balance the wheels. There are millions of vehicles in the United States with an average of 8 ounces of lead used to balance the wheels of every vehicle. According to the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Federal Highway Administration, about 65,000 tons of lead wheel weights were in use on the more than 200 million cars and trucks driven in the United States in 2003. Lead weights falling off tire rims are one of the largest ongoing releases of lead into the environment. Although many conscientious automotive service centers believe they are controlling the lead wheel weight problem by recycling lead wheel weights, the EPA estimates that up to 13% or approximately 2,000 tons of wheel weights fall off into the environment each year (USA Today, August 28, 2008). While the federal government has banned lead in paint, gasoline and plumbing, among other products, the EPA, until recently, has ignored an estimated 3.5 to 4 million pounds of lead weights that drop off tire rims and onto U.S. roads every year.

Science research team "Dead Weight" recognizes the need to protect the public from exposure to lead. Our goal is to rid the world of hazardous lead in wheel weights. Historically, little thought has been given about the metal used in making wheel weights. There are no federal laws governing the use of lead in wheel weights. Lead wheel weights are one of the last major unregulated sources of lead pollution entering the environment (Jeff Gearhart). 80% of the wheel weights installed in the United States are lead wheel weights while the remaining 20% are lead free wheel weights. While new car and wheel weight manufacturers are making voluntary progress to phase in lead-free wheel weights, 80% of all lead wheel weights sold are installed by tire service stations (USA Today, August 28, 2008).

Employees at tire service center are exposed to lead wheel weight dust on a daily basis. People are exposed to lead fragments and dust when lead wheel weights fall from motor vehicles onto roadways and are abraded and pulverized by the traffic or are swept up and deposited in landfills. Lead wheel weights on roadways can contribute to soil, surface and groundwater contamination and pose hazards to aquatic life. "A one ounce lead wheel weight weighs over 28 grams. Our tests with the help of the University of Iowa Hygienic Lab suggest that 1 gram of wheel weight lead has the potential to contaminate over 66,000 liters of water." http://www.smartenergy4kids.org/images/dilute.vinegar.leadww.1-10.html

Lead transmission through the food chain is inevitable. Lead negatively affects every body system. While lead is hazardous to people of all ages, lead is especially harmful to fetuses, children, and adults of childbearing age. Effects of lead on a child's cognitive, behavioral, and developmental abilities may necessitate large expenditures of personal and public funds for health care and special education. Irreversible damage to children and subsequent expenditures could be avoided if exposure to lead is reduced.

Wheel weight lead contamination is a preventable problem because environmentally friendly and competitively priced lead-free wheel weight alternatives are available. The cost of lead wheel weight contamination prevention is far less expensive than the cost of removing lead from the environment. Our science research team has created a community minded solution to phase in the use of environmentally friendly steel wheel weights. Our lead wheel weight research project suggests and outlines a community based plan that can be replicated in any community across the United States. We convinced our city council to eliminate lead wheel weights on city vehicles and our state legislators to introduce a bill banning the sale and installation of lead wheel weights in Iowa. Our efforts have made a real difference. Please click on our website links to see our journey as we explored a model for phasing out the current practice of using lead in wheel weights. You may click on this link to read our Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge First Place and national grand prize winning lead wheel weight research and proposal paper.