Lead wheel weights have been under attack for several years by environmentalists. They were banned by the European Union in 2005 and are being phased out in Japan and South Korea. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is sponsoring a voluntary initiative to reduce the use of lead wheel weights but has not banned them.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and other big tire makers are phasing them out, as are all the major automakers.
"For environmental reasons, this is the direction the industry is going," said a spokesman for Goodyear, which has 83 company-owned tire stores in California.
As lead weights are phased out, weights made of steel or zinc alloy are being used for tire balancing. Those weights are larger and cost 20% to 30% more, said Mark Aiken, vice president of sales for Plombco. However, because wheel weights typically cost less than 50 cents each and there are generally only two per wheel, the higher cost shouldn't have a big effect on consumers, he said.
The Ecology Center, a nonprofit environmental group based in Ann Arbor, Mich., said the California settlement should provide a big boost to the anti-lead forces.
"We fully expect dozens of states to follow California's leadership and ban the use of lead wheel weights," said Jeff Gearheart, the center's research director.
The California lawsuit was filed under Proposition 65, known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. The law requires the posting of public warnings in businesses or on products that could expose people to chemicals that government scientists have found cause cancer or birth defects.
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martin.zimmerman@latimes .com
