To some people reading this, the title may at first appear to be indecipherable code, however, as is often the way with these things, the answer is far more straightforward.

All three of these terms relate to how the wheels on any given car appear in relation to that vehicle…

Tuck meaning they are tucked in under the bodywork, Poke meaning they poke out from the bodywork and flush –you guessed it- that they remain flush with the existing bodywork.

The point of tucking a wheel into the arch, is to allow fitment of a wider alloy wheel, normally through the fitment of a narrowed front beam. It's more commonly seen on classic air cooled motors like early Campers/Beetles etc.

If done well it can work, but it’s so easy to do badly…

Poke can be achieved for instance with spacers, pushing the wheel out from the norm, by using wide rims. Stretch is actually used to avoid poke on a wide wheel. The right combo will give you a wide wheel whose physical edge will be outside the arch, but a stretch tyre will mean that the tread of the tyre itself remains under the arch.

Flush can mean a standard set up, but can still be maintained with modifications, either with non-standard rims that still fit the car, or by body mods to the car that widen the wheel arches, allowing for wider mags that still sit flush within the confines of the larger wheel space.

As with stretched tyres, all of these mods are particularly popular with the VW clan, but also with owners of Japanese cars and of course, those cwazy Yanks.

Interestingly, rather than the ‘boy racer’ moniker usually handed down to anyone interested in modifying their ride, disciples of these types of mods tend to be far more interested in the slow cruise, rather than attempting to break the land-speed record for small-engined vehicles on suburban roadways. This in turn lends itself to lowering the car ‘til its belly touches the tarmac and expecting tyres to last a vastly reduced mileage due to stretch, camber and burning against the bodywork any time a corner is negotiated: no sudden moves.

While this is kind of true, the opposite is also true. If you look at race cars from series like the FIA GT2 BMW cars, you'll see these are almost flush, but they certainly aren't slow.

In terms of which is best, that’s really down to personal taste. Everyone will have their preferred style and be able to back it up to the hilt. Many regard outsized tyres that rub on the bodywork at the slightest sign of trouble as ridiculously unsafe and a waste of money as tyres will threaten to blow at the first sign of a pothole or sharp corner. Others regard this extra danger as a bit tasty.

Obviously, poke has a pretty huge following, making the car instantly noticeable, but also emulating far more expensive high performance or racing models and at a fraction of the cost.

It’s a discussion that rages on and on in any number of online forums across the automotive planet, as each extolls the virtues of their own choice, with pics to prove it.

Personally? You gotta love a car with some poke. Know what I’m sayin’, Bro?