kick the tires
kick the tires verb: to inspect something to ensure it meets expected standards or has favored characteristics, typically before committing to purchasing or otherwise selecting it.
Verb
kick the tires (third-person singular simple present kicks the tires, present participle kicking the tires, simple past and past participle kicked the tires)
- To inspect something to ensure it meets expected standards or has favored characteristics, typically before committing to purchasing or otherwise selecting it.
- But, like the Color-Sonics machine, US operators have had no opportunity to "kick the tires" on Cine-Jukebox.1966 May 28, Ray Brack, “Video; The Industry Is Taking A Second Look”, in Billboard, page 66
- Red Flag 1: When an Analyst Doesn't Kick the Tires or Even Read a Company's Filings2003, Martin Howell, Predators and Profits: 100+ Ways for Investors to Protect Their Nest Eggs, Reuters (2003), page 189 (chapter title)
- To make a superficial assessment of, or a show of interaction with, an item for sale, without any real intent to purchase.
- Are you planning on buying anything, or are you just here to kick the tires?
- To inspect a vehicle's tires by kicking them to check for defects or poor quality.
- If the dealer or his used car manager goes out to the car, he may kick the tires as though he expected them to collapse at the force of the blow.1929, Paul G. Hoffman, James H. Greene, Marketing Used Cars, Harper & Brothers Publishers, page 14
- "Kick the tires and look serious" recognized as first rule for used car appraisal; 1915.1935 April, Motor, volume 63, number 4, page 39
Examples of kick the tires in a sentence
- The goal is to let them kick the tires, run their software on it and provide feedback.2005 August 4, Matthew Fordahl, “Windows Vista: Insanely late, and promising”, in Gainesville Sun:
- It's like everybody depends on Iowa to kick the tires on the candidates."2007 October 19, “Brownback plans to withdraw from the race for the Republican presidential nomination”, in Spencer Daily Reporter:
- In the coming weeks, Albertans will get a chance to kick the tires of the party leaders, their platforms and local candidates.2008 February 5, “This time, your vote will really count”, in Edmonton Journal:
- The Packers will kick the tires on two injured starters in preparation for the playoffs.2011 December 30, Gregg Rosenthal, “Packers stars, including Rodgers, may sit out Sunday”, in NBC Sports:
Synonyms of kick the tires
Forms of kick the tires
| third-person singular present | kicks the tires |
|---|---|
| present participle | kicking the tires |
| past participle | kicked the tires |
| past | kicked the tires |
| alternative form | kick the tyres |
Origin of kick the tires
Early 20th century. Tires on early automobiles were made of thin rubber and were sometimes of poor quality, hence a prospective buyer might kick them to see how thick they were or if they would deflate.
Questions about kick the tires
- What does kick the tires mean?
- Kick the tires means to inspect something to ensure it meets expected standards or has favored characteristics, typically before committing to purchasing or otherwise selecting it.
- How do you use kick the tires in a sentence?
- The goal is to let them kick the tires, run their software on it and provide feedback.
- What part of speech is kick the tires?
- Kick the tires is a verb.
- What is the past tense of kick the tires?
- The past tense of kick the tires is kicked the tires.
Words near kick the tires in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kick the tires (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-kick the tires.ogg.
Cite this entry: “kick the tires.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kick_the_tires. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.