Yeah, not clear. Heavy point at the apex; opposite the apex (the triangle’s base) and about 10" apart put 2 weights on the inside rim, 2 weights on the outside rim. So yes, the weights form the rectangular base of a pyramid with the heavy point at the apex. Clear as mud?
as far as dynamic balancing goes . . . you’re supposed to have one weight on each side of the rim, not several
If the machine says 0, but the tire/rim assembly is still wobbling side to side or tramping up and down, you either did a lousy job balancing, or the rim is bent
Sadly, many mechanics have not heard of the concept of matchmarking, or just don’t care
I have seen many tires ruined over time, because the rims were never balanced correctly in the first place
Like a trapezoid??
No, a pyramid.
JoeMario nailed it imo.
Lead free weights require larger weights.
Geez, I’ve got about 100 pounds of duck decoy anchors up in the garage attic. They were for my dad’s decoys and probably 70 years old. Maybe they’ve got silver in it. The curse was they were hand made by his cousin and have to be sold for $35 to another family member but no one wants them. Its a limited market and I can’t find anyone to sell them to. I’d even give them the $35. I can’t be the one breaking the deal made 70 years ago though. I had to promise many times. No one said anything about selling the anchors though.
I expect the silver content is due to where that particular load of surplus lead came from, some kind of x-ray machine I think. There may be properties of silver that make it good to add to lead for that use.
I still don’t get it. But, oh well, sometimes that just happens! 
How about this, with 2 weights on this side, 2 on the other:
That’s the way I always did it when I worked at a gas station years ago as a teenager. My job was mostly to pump gas, but sometimes a customer would come in w/a flat so I’d fix it for them, and check the balance at the same time. They only had a simple wheel bubble-balance machine. I’m not sure why I thought so, nobody taught me or told me how to do it, but it seemed like it would be better to distribute out the weights rather than just put one big weight on the rim. It seemed to work ok, nobody every ever came back and complained.
I think I understand what you mean by “triangle”. It’s the triangle formed by three points, 1-center of the wheel, 2- one of the weights, 3- the other weight. Right?
Almost - base of the triangle is the line connecting the two weights, apex is the “Heavy Spot”.
Ok, that makes sense.
I believe the use of lead wheel weights was discontinued 10 years ago in the state of California as well as a few other states. The weights that you are finding are likely steel or zinc.
In the picture are three weights of 2.0 ounces/57 grams and one of 60 grams. The one at the top of the picture is zinc, the middle is plastic coated steel and the bottom lead. You can see how a common 2.0 ounce weight has grown in size.
Lead weights are on the way out ,we never balance heavy duty truck rim tire assemblies and they are usually fine up to around 70 mph ,static balancing works pretty darn good, around here they dont care about your alloy rims ,usually stick the clip on weights on them.I watch some of the cats installing tires and never really getting the tire assembly centered on the machine,I watch the wobble and wonder ,How in the double hockeysticks can you balance that ?.
On the subject of silver lead mix,one smart dude knew that a Church was roofed with lead produced from ore with a high silver content ,He offered to reroof the Church for free and was taken up on the offer ,seems He made a tidy sum for His efforts
Texases,
I hope you realize that splitting the weight on one side is actually decreasing the the effectiveness of the weights. You’d use less weight if you used a single weight. It’s not a lot, but it is something.
You’re right, of course. I don’t know that it was any better than 2 weights opposite the heavy point. Just what I was taught at the gas station.
Perhaps two small weights were less likely to drop off than one big one.
I still don’t see how you can get a triangle out of four weights. The base of a triangle would be a trapezoid.
The old way that I remember is to split the necessary weight into four, two weights on each side separated by roughly 120 degrees arc on each side (that splits the weight between the inside and outside). That’s one step further from your posted drawing. I can’t envision where this would create a triangle from any perspective.
I’ve no doubt that what you’re envisioning is a triangle. I just can’t seem to see it.
The base of the pyramid (peak at the heavy point) would be a rectangle formed by the 4 weights, two on the inside of the rim, two on the outside.
I think I’ve got it now. Are you considering the heavy spot on the rim to be the triangle’s apex and the two weights to be the base, and applying that to both sides essentially creating a triangle with depth? That would be the old way that I remember.