Why do people sometimes kick the tires of cars that they are thinking of purchasing? What does this action accomplish?
I thought this was going to be a Rocky Horror thread.
I guess people kick the tires to see that it doesn’t fall apart. I went with my stepfather to buy a car a long time ago and he tapped a mirror (literal tap…nothing hard) and the side mirror fell off. We didn’t buy a car there.
It’s just people trying to look like they know what they’re doing, hence many adverts for sports cars say ‘No tyre kickers or test pilots’.
Many years ago (before disc brakes) it was common for the front wheel bearings to wear out. If you grabbed the wheel and shook it you could tell if the bearings were shot. Possibly, kicking the tire might reveal the same problem.
With drum brakes they could not seal the bearings as well as with disc brakes. Brake dust would get into the bearings and wear them out. Repacking the bearings periodically would keep clean grease in the bearings and they would not wear out.