Why do tyre kickers kick tyres?

Question

Is there anything meaningful to it or are they just trying to appear "in the know"

turtle-head

I know what I mean and I also know you won't be getting 10 points. :-)

Answer 1

mm turtle, he means tyres. He's not American. Tires (to us) means "he tires of the comments" etc

They kick them as a quick, but extemely inaccurate, method of seeing if the tyre's down. I'll admit. I use it just to see if they could do with a replenishmant once in a while, although I do regularly check with my guage too.

Answer 2

this style of element is going in the past to the beginnings of vehicles. Tyres and rubber was fairly costly, so whilst somebody replaced into paying for a automobile, they had to be sure that they have been getting high quality tyres and not some previous ones. think of of it as checking a horse's teeth! those that do it now have not any clue in besides approximately vehicles and are too embarrassed to confess it or carry a chum. regardless of each thing, once you talk the fee of tyres as we talk, it somewhat is stupid to complication approximately whether or no longer the tyre will pop from a sprint kick! whilst tyre protection is of intense value, there are far larger risks doubtlessly lurking in a automobile. Lucas wiring includes techniques!

Answer 3

Tyre(UK)/Tire(USA) kicking is slang for people whom go around looking at and dreaming about cars that they cannot buy as they have no money and have no real intention of buying, they will also ask to go for a test drive just for the thrill, these days serious sellers whom want serious buyers will only talk to people whom turn up to view and test a car with ready cash their pocket.
You will often now see advertising for cars, "No tyre/tire kickers, no timewasters, no dreamers, no flights of fancy"

Answer 4

Kicking tires is a thing that started many years ago. People would kick tires to see how strong the chassis was and if the tire fell off. the car wasn't any good.
Nowadays tire kicking serves no purpose. Unless you are quickly checking tire pressure. People that kick tires don't know why they do it. Ask one, they have no clue, or they'll say the saw it on a TV show.

Answer 5

don't laugh too hard but before there were modern radial Tire the sidewall of a Tire was nearly as thick if not thicker than the tread depth giving some low Tires the appearance of fully inflated or nearly fully inflated.
Also if you kick the Tire and it moves the rim more than a minuscule amount it could be a sign of tie rod wear.

Answer 6

It's because they have'nt got any real knowledge of the workings of a car so they try to look as if they do by kicking tyres.

Answer 7

I didn't think it was that literal. I thought they were just time wasters that would have a long nose round cars for sale but never really intend to buy.

Edit: No mmturtle7... we mean TYRES. That's how it is spelled in English. You may bastardise the language for your own national use, but don't tell your granny how to suck eggs.

Answer 8

I always thought that Tyre Kickers meant people who nose at cars with no intetnion of buying, like carpet treaders are people who nose around your house when its for sale with no intention of buying it.

Answer 9

I've always assumed it was to test they were reasonably well inflated, and that the car wasn't going to crumble at the force of a couple of sharp knocks.

Answer 10

Americans really tire me out. I wish they would be intelligent enough to stick to their own, dumbed-down Yahoo Answers, and leave us suave Brits to answer appropriately.

Tyre-kickers are time-wasters, just like everyone has said. Don't even offer a test drive. Serious buyers will know what to ask and treat you with respect.