You put the sand in the tires, doubles as balancing beads… 
Makes me wonder how many bags busted in BMW’s when they would weigh them down for the alignments in the past… lol
Have you used the coffee machines that have the “leave room” option? I alway hit “No”. I use creamer, but still want my full measure of coffee.
I never spoil coffee with cream but always say to leave room so I don’t spill coffee all over.
For rear wheel drive cars, if you are adding sand to increase the weight on the rear tires, it is best to put the weight forward of the rear axle, which is next to impossible in a new car. Older vehicles usually had an elevated area in the truck over the rear axle right behind the rear seat back. Some folks use bricks, some use bags of sand, some use heavy pieces of steel (old engine heads, etc…). I am not recommending you put any of these items into the rear seat area of the passenger compartment.
If you put the weight behind the rear axle, you will have an advantage of extra traction on the rear wheels (although not a lot…), but there is a counteracting force that the weight will slightly ( I said “slightly…”) reduce the weight on the front tires, thereby possibly reducing front wheel steering…
If you have front wheel drive, the extra weight in the trunk adds nothing to the traction in snow. The engine is heavy enough to that…
Now, if you are driving a rear wheel drive truck, and you want to add weight, you add put it at the front of the bed so if you stop quickly, the weight does not came slamming forward into the bed liner.
When I was growing up in UpState New York, in the '60s, I saw plenty of engine blocks or loads of bricks tied down in truck beds.
Front wheel drive trucks might also benefit from a little weight in the bed to add some weight for a bit more grab when braking…
If you have an All-Wheel Drive or 4-Wheel Drive vehicle, then the above is all a moot point… But carrying a shovel and a container of cat litter or sand is always good advice in winter as well as a warm blanket and phone charger, just in case.
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The smart guys put the sandbags/shotbags in a clean box just to make sure, but my experience was that a lot of shops didn’t have the weight bags handy and would just grab a few brake rotors and toss them on the seat. 
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Owners of cats as pets could simply, during winter, keep extra boxes of cat litter in their trunk or back seat, half a dozen boxes, and slowly deplete that supply through the coldest winter months. Meowwww!
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Shot bags go from the dirty floor to the vehicle’s seat, these are always dirty, I prepare the seat with a seat cover before looking for the shot bags.
Managers fail to recognize bad practices, here a technician is replacing a fuel pump that is accessed below the rear seat cushion in a luxury car with leather seats:
Could you please tell me what a “shot bag” is?
A bag full of spent buckshot??
Ave Maria….
Bags filled with lead shot or pellets, usually to a specific weight. Primarily used for occupant seat classification calibration (passenger airbag).
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Thanks for explaining it! So my instinct about buckshot was correct.
I doubt that the lead shot was used for hunting, therefore it isn’t spent ammo. What makes you think that spent buckshot could be collected and repurposed?
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We always used seat covers, floor mats and sometimes steering wheel covers, at the last company I worked for anyway, before getting in any vehicle before a test drive or pulling into a bay… and a few other places I worked…
The weight was 150# in each front seat and IIRC 100# in the rear seat and 50# in the trunk, or maybe just 150# in the trunk (I remember it being a total of 450# for most) and a full tank of gas to simulate the vehicle loaded with passengers and at highway speed, in order for the camber to be set to spec and of course toe specs…
Because of liability as I understand it, they do it based off ride height and the alignment computer gives you the simulated proper specs now, less potential mess…
So although your idea would work for snow, it would not work very well for alignments…
Why would they not have a dedicated shelf or something to set/hang on, does your shop just throw the alignment heads on the floor and not hang them back in their proper places??
Who brought up alignments? We’re talking about extra weight for winter driving.
Oh, I get it. Never mind..
There is a drawer in the tool cabinet for the Airbag OCS weight bags, they get returned after a few days.
There’s a regular who said he would walk on roadsides, collecting lead wheel weights, figuring they’d be useful
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I believe California banned the use of lead wheel weights years ago because of a concern for environmental pollution. Collecting lead weights may have enough scrap value to buy lunch one day.
A dozen years ago I witnessed my shop “Team Leader” dumping wheel weights into the trash. I informed him that I was told by the supply company that we need to collect the old weights because lead should not be sent to the landfill. My supervisor disagreed so I started collecting the lead myself.
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That’s something I agree with!
Keeping heay metals(Aluminum, Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury) out of the environment.
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Don’t forget copper. Your brakes may be noisier now than they were 10 years ago because we have been removing copper from brake linings.
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I wasn’t aware of copper toxicity.
At least there is an effort afoot, both in the public and private sectors, to tackle the two elephants in the room: Lead & Mercury.
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