# Kicking Tires When Buying Cars

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kicking-tires-when-buying-cars/10012>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 8, 2000, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kicking-tires-when-buying-cars/10012 "2000-04-08T18:13:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

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**Author:** ![ralphredan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f4b2a3/32.png) [@ralphredan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralphredan)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2000, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kicking-tires-when-buying-cars/10012/4 "2000-04-08T23:58:00Z")

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If you’re old enough, it does make sense.  
During the war, rubber was rationed and most tires you could get were worthless retreads.  
Good tires were a key part of a used car deal, and at times you would buy a wreck to get the tires.  
There were few protections against worthless tires.  
If you kick a few tires, it’s easy to spot the retreads. No-one actually does it any more, but at one time it was the smart thing to do.

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