# Why do/did people kick the tires of a car?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-did-people-kick-the-tires-of-a-car/731618>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 18, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-did-people-kick-the-tires-of-a-car/731618 "2015-09-18T01:06:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-did-people-kick-the-tires-of-a-car/731618/2 "2015-09-18T01:18:39Z")

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[Previous thread 1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=14854)

> [@Kicking Tires When Buying Cars](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kicking-tires-when-buying-cars/10012/4):
>
> 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.

> [@Kicking Tires When Buying Cars](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kicking-tires-when-buying-cars/10012/7):
>
> One explanation that I have heard was that it was to rock the wheels to check for a bad tie rod or bearings.
> 
> I can testify that you can hear/feel a really bad wheel bearing or rod bearing by kicking the tires hard enough, but it’s absolutely not a reliable or repeatable thing to do. And if it gets bad enough to hear by kicking the tires, then the suspension is probably “24-carat fucked” on that wheel.
> 
> I can also testify that once I discovered a brake caliper that had not been installed properly after a brake job. I was kicking the tires of a friend’s car as a joke, and noticed a strange rattle. Turned out he hadn’t installed the anti-chatter spacers properly (not any real danger on this car, since they typically rusted and fell off, but it sure amazed her that I could detect it it with my innate car wisdom…).

[Previous thread 2](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=29886)

> [@Why "kick the tires" of a car you are buying?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-kick-the-tires-of-a-car-you-are-buying/24675/9):
>
> According to my dear old dad, who used to work in a garage, and who is still pretty handy with a wrench, tire-kicking was the time-honored way to check out the condition of a car’s suspension, specifically the king pins and king pin bushings. In the good ol’ days, king pin bushings would wear at a fairly reliable and predictable rate. Eventually, the king pins would rattle around in the bushings, indicating that the car had a significant number of miles on it, and that it was time to have the front suspension redone. In order to have a kick reveal the rattle, though, the front end has to be jacked up. A good kick will tell you, roughly, if the miles on the odometer are reasonably representative of the miles indicated by the king pin bushing wear.
> 
> You can get the same idea by grabbing the top of the tire and giving it a good shake, but then you get your hands dirty.

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