kick the tires

Language: en

Meaning: (idiomatic,colloquial)Toinspectsomething toensureit meetsexpectedstandardsor hasfavoredcharacteristics, typically beforecommittingtopurchasingor otherwiseselectingit.Synonyms:kick the wheels,take for a spin,put someone through their paces1966May 28, Ray Brack, “Video; The Industry Is Taking A Second Look”, inBillboard,page66:But, like the Color-Sonics machine, US operators have had no opportunity to "kick the tires" on Cine-Jukebox.2003, Martin Howell,Predators and Profits: 100+ Ways for Investors to Protect Their Nest Eggs, Reuters (2003),→ISBN,page 189(chapter title):Red Flag 1: When an Analyst Doesn'tKick the Tiresor Even Read a Company's Filings2005August 4, Matthew Fordahl, “Windows Vista: Insanely late, and promising”, inGainesville Sun:Microsoft finally took some of the wraps off last week, releasing Vista's first major test version to about 500,000 programmers and tech professionals. The goal is to let themkick the tires, run their software on it and provide feedback.2007October 19, “Brownback plans to withdraw from the race for the Republican presidential nomination”, inSpencer Daily Reporter:"Iowa has, the last number of presidential cycles, really been the bellwether state to pick nominees," he said. "And it's got this great balance of rural and somewhat urban, Midwest and Upper Midwest — it's just got a great balance of people so that the rest of the country looks at it. Plus it's a small enough population in size that people get the individual feel of candidates. It's like everybody depends on Iowa tokick the tireson the candidates."2008February 5, “This time, your vote will really count”, inEdmonton Journal:In the coming weeks, Albertans will get a chance tokick the tiresof the party leaders, their platforms and local candidates.2011December 30, Gregg Rosenthal, “Packers stars, including Rodgers, may sit out Sunday”, inNBC Sports:The Packers willkick the tireson two injured starters in preparation for the playoffs.2012January 3, William Petrocelli, “Who's Snooping Around Bookstores? Lots of People”, inHuffington Post:Not content with the advantage it gets when 39% of its customerskick the tireson the merchandise in someone else's showroom before buying from them, Amazon decided to go a little further.2025May 21,Ezra Klein, quotingJake Tapper, “How Groupthink Protected Biden and Re-elected Trump”, inThe New York Times‎[1],→ISSN:Jeff Zients[…]comes in, and he’s a former Bain Capital guy. He has “Bain brain”: He wants to run the diagnostics. He wants tokick the tires. He wants to see: Is this a good idea?; (literally,originally)Toinspectavehicle'stiresby kicking them to check fordefectsor poorquality.1929, Paul G. Hoffman, James H. Greene,Marketing Used Cars, Harper & Brothers Publishers,page14:If the dealer or his used car manager goes out to the car, he maykick the tiresas though he expected them to collapse at the force of the blow.1935April,Motor, volume63, number 4,page39:"Kick the tiresand look serious" recognized as first rule for used car appraisal; 1915.1939October, Kenneth F. Gilbert, “Automobile Salesmen Won't Tell”, inConsumers' Digest, volume 6, number 4,page42:One of the things you wait most eagerly to hear a salesman say is the amount of the allowance. A good salesman will deliberately build up your suspense. He will start your engine,kick the tires, run his hand over the upholstery, stick his head under the hood, but, if your fenders are undented and the glass unbroken[…]

Examples:

EN: Why do car sellers always kick the tires?
ES: ¿Porqué los vendedores de coches siempre golpeáis los neumáticos?
EN: No kick the tires, lighting fires stuff.
ES: No te entusiasmes y cometas alguna locura.
EN: Let's light the fires and kick the tires.
ES: Vamos a prender el motor y tirar las gomas.
EN: So you'd send the other one to check out the merchandise, - sort of kick the tires? - Crude, but accurate.
ES: Enviabais al otro a comprobar la mercancía ¿cómo darle una patada a la rueda?
EN: I'd Iike to kick the tires.
ES: Patearé los neumáticos.
EN: - Don't you want to kick the tires?
ES: ¿No quieres seguir la pista?
EN: I might let her kick the tires of the old Hank machine.
ES: Tal vez le deje darle una probadita al viejo Hank. ¡Yo, en cambio, ah!
EN: You think about it, mull it over, kick the tires.
ES: Piensen en esto, reflexionen, den unas patadas a los neumáticos.
EN: Let's kick the tires and light the fires.
ES: Pateemos ruedas y encendamos fuegos.
EN: Ready to kick the tires and light the fires on your say-so.
ES: listos para volar todo cuando digas.
EN: You kick the tires, make sure your rubber's good.
ES: que este bien lubricada. Le tocas la llantas. Te aseguras que la goma es buena.
ES: Patea los neumáticos, hay que Asegúrese bien de su caucho .
EN: I'm here to kick the tires and find out what it is we bought.
ES: Estoy aquí para arreglar problemas y saber qué es lo que compramos.
EN: We're closing today so some building inspectors and technicians can come down and kick the tires.
ES: estamos cerrando hoy para que algunos inspectores de edificios puedan venir y echar un vistazo.
EN: I'd like to, uh... kick the tires, so to speak, if you don't mind.
ES: Me gustaría... probarlas, para empezar a hablar, si no le importa.
EN: I'll do a site visit tonight and kick the tires.
ES: Voy a ir a ese sitio esta noche a hacer una inspección.

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