Beach Driving Defender

[snipe]

Guys

First post but have spent hours crawling over the info here, its excellent. Picked up a new 110 defender 3 weeks ago, love it so far. Going to make Fraser its first real trip.

Have the std tyres - what do you guys that have the same run the psi at when beach driving? I've been told as low as 10, high as 20, was thinking 15 a fair safe hedge bet?

Appreciate feedback

[scanfor]

45 psi rear, 28 psi front - I never let them down for the beaches at Straddie or Teewah, never had any problems.

[Snake2093]

Hi there,

Ther tyre pressure really relies on the conditions. If you are loading up the truck you may want to lower the pressures a bit. When on Fraser I put mine to 18psi allround, that will see you through situation on fraser.
Just remember if you seems to get struck , you can lower them more if you wish. 9 times of 10 people get bogged due to tyre pressure. Also slow down when tyre pressures are lower and avoid heavy braking..
Have fun on the first trip.

[Drover]

15 - 18 psi is pretty much a good pressure if the sand is reasonable firm.

You can go as low as 10psi is the sand is soft. Soft sand is usually found on a hot day or when the sand has very low water content in it.

If you run a higher pressure (15-18psi) and get stuck you would drop to 8-10psi to get out. Also you might find the vehicle struggling if the tryre pressures are to high. You will have to judge this for your self. Try to feel if the vehicle is on top of the sand or pushing through it.

If you run 12's you will cruise around all day, stop - start without any problems.

An old trick when you stop is to reverse back over you tread marks a few meters before taking off. Reason being is that you are driving on already compressed sand
.

[Milton477]

45 psi rear, 28 psi front - I never let them down for the beaches at Straddie or Teewah, never had any problems.

I didn't think such irresponsibility existed on this forum. You are the kind of guy I won't help when you do get stuck with your hard tyres & believe me you will.

[lardy]

I didn't think such irresponsibility existed on this forum. You are the kind of guy I won't help when you do get stuck with your hard tyres & believe me you will.

If you use sand mats/waffle boards on real soft stuff tie some para cord to them, and leave it trailing to the outside of the vehicle left and right.
Attach the other end to the grab handles on the back of your vehicle, this way you can keep driving onto firm sand before picking them up

[Debacle]

I didn't think such irresponsibility existed on this forum. You are the kind of guy I won't help when you do get stuck with your hard tyres & believe me you will.

Rips things up for those following behind too. 20psi and a brain is quite adequate.

[scanfor]

Fair enough I suppose, but 25 years of beach driving experience says otherwise.
Irresponsible? No.
Ability to drive to suit conditions - yes.
Ripping things up for those following? It's the beach, not a bush track - nothing gets ripped up.

[DeeJay]

Fair enough I suppose, but 25 years of beach driving experience says otherwise.
Irresponsible? No.
Ability to drive to suit conditions - yes.
Ripping things up for those following? It's the beach, not a bush track - nothing gets ripped up.

I'll just be polite & say that advising a new owner that highway pressure is Ok for Fraser Island is poor advice.

[Debacle]

Fair enough I suppose, but 25 years of beach driving experience says otherwise.
Irresponsible? No.
Ability to drive to suit conditions - yes.
Ripping things up for those following? It's the beach, not a bush track - nothing gets ripped up.

Yes, i've had a similar amount of experience of beach driving. It's not the driving on the beach I'm referring to, it's the access tracks and bypass tracks which are where people usually get into trouble driving on road pressures especially on places like Fraser. You can do most of Straddie and Teewah in a subaru, but getting up to the Cape or anywhere past Orchid Bch on Fraser is a little different. Just because it's a beach doesn't mean you need to treat it different to a bush track. Tread Lightly.