jeu aux roues

English translation: play in the wheels

09:43 Oct 20, 2020

French to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Engineering (general) / motor vehicles

French term or phrase: jeu aux roues

Jobs done by a mechanic on a car, which seems to be a sports or even racing type vehicle.

"VIDANGE BOITE.
DEGAZAGE.
VERIFICATION PNEUS, TRAINS ET JEUX AUX ROUES.
NETTOYAGE FILTRE A AIR.
NETTOYAGE VEHICULE.
DEMARRAGE."

I searched on things including "wheel plays", but there weren't many hits. "Wheel clearances" on the other hand gets more. I don't quite understand what this check is about: is it clearance from the wheel arch? Conceivably you might want a bit of "play" in a wheel. Vehicle maintenance isn't my strongest suit.

Mpoma KudoZ activity Questions: 1026 (4 open) (91 closed without grading) Answers: 382 United Kingdom
Local time: 16:39

English translation:play in the wheels

Explanation:
Although there may indeed be deliberate 'clearances' at various points, in the case of a mechanic's checking it is almost certainly looking for unwanted 'play'

This would not be the clearance between the wheel and the wheel arch, for which another term is used — possibly something like 'dégagement', which is another word for (quite large) wanted clearance.

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Note added at 36 mins (2020-10-20 10:20:44 GMT)
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The thing is, really, that normal wear and tear tends to mean that undesirable 'play' increases over time and hence needs to be checked; whereas wanted clearance won't usually tend to decrease.
In other words, 'wanted' clearance eventually gets bigger and becomes 'unwanted' play... hence why we check it!
Don't over-think...

Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 17:39

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4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +4

play in the wheels

Tony M

Discussion entries: 10

chris collister

France

@Mpoma

21:05 Oct 20, 2020

I'll bet your bicycle has play in the wheel bearings! Not too serious, but watch out for play in your bottom bracket... Or even your steering head.

Mpoma

United Kingdom

ASKER

@Tony

16:11 Oct 20, 2020

Haha. I own a bicycle. I once owned a car, for about a year. Sounds like I should keep things that way.

Tony M

France

@ Asker

13:33 Oct 20, 2020

Not really neceesarily: that would more likely be play in the suspension joints, steering joints, etc.
'Play in the wheels' is actually technically very imprecise, but I would instinctively think of things like worn wheel bearings, which wouldn't automatically have quite such a dramatically noticeable effect on the steering etc... if it were that bad, your wheel might be almost ready to drop off!

Mpoma

United Kingdom

ASKER

@Chris

10:36 Oct 20, 2020

Ah, right... a faint light of understanding dawns (possibly) ... so it could be that "play" might mean that the wheels maybe don't respond as crisply as one might like to turning the steering wheel, that sort of thing?

chris collister

France

Play in the wheels

10:16 Oct 20, 2020

could be due either to slack wheel bearings or to a worn ball-joint or some other part of the steering linkage. "Play" would not necessarily include wobble.

Suzie Withers

United Kingdom

10:13 Oct 20, 2020

Yeah, ignore me as this is not an area of expertise for me, which is why I didn't propose a translation - it was just an idea

Mpoma

United Kingdom

ASKER

Also...

10:10 Oct 20, 2020

... it seems to me that wanting a specific degree of wobble in a wheel (or clearance for that matter) may possibly not in fact be the same thing as, or the opposite thing to, aligning your wheels. Aren't they different types of checks? But I confess complete ignorance.

Suzie Withers

United Kingdom

10:07 Oct 20, 2020

Hmmmm, I think the equivalent terms for these are "géométrie", "parallelisme" and "équilibrage" so I'm not so sure...

Mpoma

United Kingdom

ASKER

@Suzie

10:06 Oct 20, 2020

Thanks. But ... it seems to me that jeu here is something "positive", i.e. checking that it is present. Whereas wouldn't checking for alignment be checking "against" play in the wheels, checking that it is absent? So wouldn't your check be likely to be alignement or something synonymous?

Suzie Withers

United Kingdom

Wheel tracking or alignment?

10:01 Oct 20, 2020

This is definitely a common check carried out, especially when you have new tyres fitted, but also in general.

Answers

21 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

play in the wheels

Tony M
France
Local time: 17:39
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 640

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jeu aux roues

English translation: play in the wheels

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