What Does It Mean to “Kick the Tires?”
To kick the tires means to thoroughly inspect something, test something, or try something out before buying it.
This expression primarily refers to inspecting and test-driving an automobile before deciding whether to buy it. When someone kicks the tires of a car, they are making sure it is of the quality they want and meets their needs. The idiom has been extended to more general use and can be used anytime a person is ‘checking something out’ before buying it.
The expression ‘kick the tires’ is sometimes used to mean ‘investigate’ or ‘find out’ something. For example, “That guy is suspicious. We need to kick his tires before we let him work here.” When used this way, the phrase tends to mean performing minimal research instead of thoroughly investigating.
The phrase “kick the tires and light the fires” was famously used in the movie Independence Day by the character played by Harry Connick Jr. who said, “Let’s kick the tires and light the fires, big daddy!” In this phrase, ‘kick the tires’ refers to a preflight check of the landing gear and other parts of the aircraft, while ‘light the fires’ refers to igniting the afterburners of a fighter jet. It comes from U.S. military jargon.
Sentence Examples
“My dad is going to go with me to the car dealership. He says he wants to kick the tires before I buy anything.”
“All people want to do is kick the tires. Nobody is buying anything.”
“Don’t buy a computer off the internet. You need to be able to kick the tires first.”
“Nobody literally kicks tires anymore except my Dad. He does it to his own car for no reason at all.”
” I am kicking the tires on a couple deals. I might buy a hotel in Saint Bart’s.” — Tower Heist (2011)
“I thought you said that he wasn’t serious, he was just kicking the tires.” “Yeah, well, he’s serious now. He just made us an offer.” — Extract (2009)
“You know how to tell whether a car’s good or not? You gotta kick the tires.” — Sorry, Haters (2006)
“Get over to the paper, kick the tires, and figure out what it’s worth.” — Suits: Rules of the Game (2011)
Origin of Kick the Tires
The idiom kick the tires has been used since at least the 1940s. It arose when rubber tires were of much poorer quality than today’s tires, so kicking a tire could very well help determine its quality. Today, literally kicking a car’s tires is a pointless exercise, unless it is to help determine whether a tire is low on air. However, the expression has long been used in a more general way, to describe checking the quality of an automobile or other product.
More Automotive (Car-Related) Idioms
- Running on Fumes – for when you’re exhausted but you keep on going.
- Burn Rubber – to drive very fast in a car.
- Your Mileage My Vary – indicates that someone might get different results; it’s not the same for everybody.
- Put the Pedal to the Metal – do it as fast as possible.
- A Mile a Minute – very fast or rapidly.
- To Tailgate – to drive dangerously close behind another car.