Types Of Scrap Metal That Are Extricated From Autos And Recycled
Posted on: 3 June 2018
Sending cars to scrap metal yards is a common thing. You may even have sent a car or two to a scrap metal yard in your lifetime. Yet, you probably did not know that cars and trucks are made of more than one kind of metal. If you were to take a car apart completely and break down the parts by the type of metal used prior to recycling each lot of metal separately (e.g., like a scrap metal yard would), you would find the following metals. This would be useful for discovering a fair price for your auto's metals and the real and total value of metal.
Most Vehicles Are Sixty Percent Steel
It should not surprise you that most vehicles are made predominantly of steel. Perhaps you find it more surprising that any other metals are involved. Since at least sixty percent of your vehicle is steel, that means that the other forty percent is something else. Even if you subtract one percent for glass, one percent for rubber, three percent for cloth/vinyl/foam, and ten percent for plastic, that still leaves you with twenty-five percent other metals.
Aluminum Is Involved Too
Aluminum can comprise up to twenty-five percent of a vehicle's overall make-up. A particular make and model of truck is sixty percent steel and twenty-five percent aluminum. When you already know that, you can figure out the poundage of steel and aluminum and then multiply by the current fair market scrap metal price for these metals.
Copper (Wiring Mostly)
Copper is used to build cars too. Most of the time the copper involved is solely in the electrical wiring and the electrical components, such as fuses. However, copper may also be used for "plumbing," parts of a vehicle that hold or transport fluids and need to be rust-resistant.
Lead (Batteries)
An almost negligible amount of lead exists in cars, too. At one point, prior to discovering the toxic effects of lead, a larger portion of cars was made of lead. One such example is lead gas tanks, which held leaded fuel.
After it was discovered that lead was a carcinogen and that it caused damage to your brain, auto manufacturers replaced most gas tanks with steel and leaded with unleaded gas. Now, the only probable place you will find lead is in car batteries, and scrap metal salvage yards take great care in recycling the batteries and using the lead properly. Contact a salvage company, like TNT Auto Salvage, for more help.
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