fred@mot.UUCP (Fred Christiansen) (02/14/85)
[]
anyone know the origin of this phrase? if, presumably, it actually refers
to people hauling off and giving the treads a good swift one, why in the
world were they doing it? i've been curious about this one for years.
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Fred Christiansen, Motorola Microsystems, 2900 S Diablo Way, Tempe, AZ 85282
{allegra,ihnp4}!sftig!mot!fred {ihnp4,seismo}!ut-sally!oakhill!mot!fred
{ihnp4,amdahl}!drivax!mot!fred ucbvax!arizona!asuvax!mot!fredjlg@lanl.ARPA (02/15/85)
Kicking tires was something people actually did (some still do) when buying a vehicle. Originally, it was a fast way to determine whether tha car had solid rubber tires or inflatable tires - I have no idea which were prefered on these early model cars. Up until recently, it may have been possible for a very sensitive foot to determine whether the tire was properly inflated by kicking. Today, with radials and so many different tire brands (all with differing characteristics) I doubt that tire kicking is of much real value. However, it doesn't really harm the tire, and it's a tradition - kick away. J. Giles
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (02/20/85)
> anyone know the origin of this phrase? if, presumably, it actually refers > to people hauling off and giving the treads a good swift one, why in the > world were they doing it? i've been curious about this one for years. I was always told that it was a test for propper inflation.
jeff@rtech.ARPA (Jeff Lichtman) (02/20/85)
> [] > anyone know the origin of this phrase? if, presumably, it actually refers > to people hauling off and giving the treads a good swift one, why in the > world were they doing it? i've been curious about this one for years. > -- > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Fred Christiansen, Motorola Microsystems, 2900 S Diablo Way, Tempe, AZ 85282 To "kick the tires" means to test something in a superficial way. For some reason, people buying cars sometimes kick the tires lightly. It doesn't show anything except the ignorance of the buyer; to a car seller this action indicates a yokel. -- Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) aka Swazoo Koolak