RRS TDV8 on the Beach Yes or no?

I was over there three weeks ago, sand very dry and soft, the main tracks have been pretty chopped up by the local tourist buses. Track out of Kingfisher Bay Resort real rough and steep, watch out for sleepers that have been thrown back by previous vehicles and once you start on this section you are committed. Tracks around Lake Mckenzie/Central Station really chopped up. Best advice I can give is to take a set of MaxTrax with you. Ran in sand mode and lifted the suspension, you will find out why. I tried it (D4) with the dsc off and on and found that the vehicle handed and was more controllable with it on. Base of the car was scrapping on the sand most of the time due to the depth of the wheel ruts so it will get a clean. Give it a real good hose off later and see the amount of sand that comes out. Beach access from Eurong, Cornwells Break all pretty good, but saying that snatched out an old Pathfinder at Cornwells who was still running 38psi in his tyres and wondered why he was having a hard time..you do find them..

You will thoroughly enjoy and marvel at just how capable your vehicle is.

Cheers

Merv

Well went to North Shore beach was really chopped up, fairly hard going. Impressions compared with all previous cars taken up there? All good EXCEPT for tyres and ground clearance. LLiams/rods a must. Plus, if alone, tyres you can deflate. Car struggled in soft areas unless there was plenty of speed/momentum. Also witnessed new D4 stuck in cutting from Double Island Point across to Rainbow Beach. Same issue all good with momentum, however as soon as he was slowed down, he got stuck. Whereas the 100 Series on tall deflated rubber easily walked past, then snatched him out. Also, I had issue with serious vibrations, thought tire was going, car shaking really badly. Turned out to be sand on inside of rims, unbalancing whole lot. Cleaning up afterwards I have never had so much sand dumped on my drive, must have been 100 kgs worth. So all in all not super impressed, it did the job, but not as well as my old classic on better tyres, not as well as my series 1 disco, and certainly not as well as the 100 series. The only good bit was the interior stayed pretty clean. Trying to upload some photos but haven't got to grips with Photobucket yet.

Hi Meccles,

You say your not impressed with your RRS's sand ability and its not as good as a 100 Series but did you have good off road tyres on or the usual low profile H/T tyres?

If you put a set 20's with rubber band tyres fitted on a 100 Series I'd like to see how far one would go in the sand or anywhere else for that matter, if would be terribly uncomfortable on road and useless off road.

Horses for courses me thinks, put a set of 18's on it with a tyre with a decent side wall and tread pattern that can be bagged out and then see if you are still not impressed. Personally I think it is futile to measure a vehicle's ability based on what rim/tyre combination that is on it.

It's like putting a set of aggressive Mud tyres on your RRS and then saying it is not a very good road car because it's noisy, doesn't handle well and is rough and vibrates on road.

cheers,
Terry

Hi Terry,
Don't misunderstand me the RRS is for the 95% of the time it spends on road etc streets ahead of the 100 Series. I am aware of what a difference tyres make, I took the sport up fitted with rubber bands precisely to see what they could, and could not do. The Sport on rubber bands does very well on dirt roads, in places like Landcruiser Mountain Park, BUT does not do so well on sand. On sand the best is light weight, big rubber, horsepower, over and above all else if possible. Which for two out of three doesn't fit the Sports description really. My point was that to make this car work in places like beach will require different rubber, which then runs into the compromise issue for the aforesaid 95% of the time. I see the new R/R runs 20's pretty much as standard, going up to 22"'s. Mind it has lost 400kgs which will help but wonder how it would go on soft sand. It just highlighted that no matter how high tech, in some situations it boils down to the black round things touching the ground. With all the issues/limitations that choosing those entails.
I met one other TDV8 Sport in beach running 19"'s with Cooper H/T's, he was very happy. With his centre console damaged from having had to manually release his EPB (another crap idea). Means for me new rims/tyres (expensive) or I will try the Cooper Zeons in 275/45 (if QLD has finally moved in line with other states). Of all cars I met that were stuck - and there was only a couple, one was a new Disco 4. With owner perplexed about why. He was in Rock Crawl, DSC off. They were trying to find out where there was a recovery point on front and about to hook up strap to suspension components. Land Rover sell these cars as the be all 4wd but don't teach the owners where the recovery points are, or what are the limitations not of car, but of the tyres. I am green oval fan but am not blind to limitations or faults with car/brand. Being honest, if one wanted a reliable, go anywhere car that was ok to drive, a Prado is hard to beat. But so boring, so ugly, I could never do it. FYI mine has just had the trans oil changed, new bushes fitted in front active damper roll bar (warranty the originals were shot). With 40K on it. So it appears that every 40K it will be up for new Active Damper bushes. I still love the car it brings a smile on your face when you drive it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Meccles

Hi Terry,
Don't misunderstand me the RRS is for the 95% of the time it spends on road etc streets ahead of the 100 Series. I am aware of what a difference tyres make, I took the sport up fitted with rubber bands precisely to see what they could, and could not do. The Sport on rubber bands does very well on dirt roads, in places like Landcruiser Mountain Park, BUT does not do so well on sand. On sand the best is light weight, big rubber, horsepower, over and above all else if possible. Which for two out of three doesn't fit the Sports description really. My point was that to make this car work in places like beach will require different rubber, which then runs into the compromise issue for the aforesaid 95% of the time. I see the new R/R runs 20's pretty much as standard, going up to 22"'s. Mind it has lost 400kgs which will help but wonder how it would go on soft sand. It just highlighted that no matter how high tech, in some situations it boils down to the black round things touching the ground. With all the issues/limitations that choosing those entails.
I met one other TDV8 Sport in beach running 19"'s with Cooper H/T's, he was very happy. With his centre console damaged from having had to manually release his EPB (another crap idea). Means for me new rims/tyres (expensive) or I will try the Cooper Zeons in 275/45 (if QLD has finally moved in line with other states). Of all cars I met that were stuck - and there was only a couple, one was a new Disco 4. With owner perplexed about why. He was in Rock Crawl, DSC off. They were trying to find out where there was a recovery point on front and about to hook up strap to suspension components. Land Rover sell these cars as the be all 4wd but don't teach the owners where the recovery points are, or what are the limitations not of car, but of the tyres. I am green oval fan but am not blind to limitations or faults with car/brand. Being honest, if one wanted a reliable, go anywhere car that was ok to drive, a Prado is hard to beat. But so boring, so ugly, I could never do it. FYI mine has just had the trans oil changed, new bushes fitted in front active damper roll bar (warranty the originals were shot). With 40K on it. So it appears that every 40K it will be up for new Active Damper bushes. I still love the car it brings a smile on your face when you drive it.

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If you can afford a TDV8 RR sport a spare set of rims and tyres are nothing to have in the garage.

My 2 cents worth

Cheers

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Originally Posted by Meccles

Land Rover sell these cars as the be all 4wd but don't teach the owners where the recovery points

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Hmmmm - if in doubt read the handbook - it is all in there.

The guy you described sounds as if he headed off without even really trying to understand his vehicle.

Garry

Equally so why would anyone be in Rock Crawl with the DSC turned off when they are on a big sandy beach? ...:angel:

Little wonder he was stuck, chances are he had his tyres pumped up to 40 psi as well.

cheers,
Terry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TerryO

Equally so why would anyone be in Rock Crawl with the DSC turned off when they are on a big sandy beach? ...:angel:

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Why not - is then close to your D1 on the sand - centre diff locked, drive to all wheels, engine responds to your requirements not what the computer thinks you want.

Regarding my D1 it doesn't have 19" or worse still 20" rims with low profile street tyres fitted and if it did chances are it wouldn't even get 100 feet in dry soft sand without Terrain Responce to try and make up for the grossly inadequate rim, tyre combination for the driving conditions.

As I said before when Meccles said the 100 Series was better in the sand then his RRS put the 100 Series on 20's with rubber band tyres and then see how good it is off road.

Cheers,
Terry

It's funny I have seen plenty of 100's stuck at Indian. Low front IFS is a bit of an anchor. The 80 series was better in my view. Live axel front and rear and tall tyres like a D2. I think the small er d2 diffs help even more with clearance though. Cheers