Driving on beach sand

[Murugan]

Does anybody have personal experience of driving on the sandy beaches of Chennai? Will the 4WD Tata Safari be able to do this comfortably? Any tips on driving?

[rjstyles69]

Whats the idea behind doing it?
I think this is done on the dunes and I don't know if chennai has dunes
I haven't driven a 4WD but then my baleno did pretty ok on the beach in ECR.
Happy beach driving .

[navin]

besides skill you need big wide tyres, low tyre pressure, a winch in case you do get stuck.

[V-16]

Originally Posted by Murugan

Does anybody have personal experience of driving on the sandy beaches of Chennai? Will the 4WD Tata Safari be able to do this comfortably? Any tips on driving?

Firstly a Tata Safari is not a dune buggy.
Have tried stunts, not on the beaches of chennai but i have done it a few times in the aksa and gorai beaches of bombay with disastrous results. I had a Willy's 66 with four wheel drive and we thought we could go anywhere. Well not on soft sand, you cant. Sure enough we got stuck. The rubber matting and the Shovel (which was till then only a show piece) served us well but it was hard manual labour. One advice, dont try this beach thing alone. The next time we tried on semi wet sand and got stuck in that too coz from nowhere a soft patch turned up. That was crazy we did the same thing but the more you shovel wet sand, the more softer it gets and water fills in the shoveled part. Somehow we pulled the car out (with the help of a tow line and an ambassador plus 8 people) but spent a bomb on servive coz all the wheels etc had sand stuck in them and salt water. So we had to get the jeep and the Ambi serviced again. A definate no no!!. Of course we tried again with a Gypsy this time ( boys will never learn) and were successful but thats we knew what to avoid. Believe me, you dont wanna try it!! Not of soft sand at least.
No tips will be enough.

[Samurai]

It also depends on the type of sand. When I tried to take the Baleno into beach sand in my native village for a U-turn, just 20 feet from tar road, it got royally stuck. Needed two other people to push it out.

You are not safe even with 4WD, if two wheels (one front and one back), get stuck you are toast.

[rjstyles69]

I did it with 205's shodded on my baleno and this was near Shelter Beach resort on ECR. Was at a friends beach house and if I were to compare the western coast with the east, east has much harder sand.

If I were in my senses I would have never tried it, a few beers and some mad brains = everything is possible.

Me and a few cousins have tried it in coastal Kerala and only ended up burning calories for the next hour trying to get the car out.

[speedzak]

I tried once in the so called DRIVE IN BEACH @ Muzhappilangad near cannanore. It was my old Qualis which had 195/70 R14 Tyres.
Yes, it got stuck. And this we realised when it was almost time for an uptide. Yeah, when the sea climbs up to the shore.
So, there we were staring at the car with the tires halfway under the waves. I was almost certain the car was gone.

A group of fishermen, 50 meters of thick rope, a TATA 407 and couple a 500 rupees' notes were needed to get out from this. Rear quarter glasses were broken too by the time we got it out.

A lesson learnt the hard way.

[cheap_deal]

all the guys who 'experimented' taking your cars out onto the beach sand, did you deflate your tires by 50%? 4wd would be a good idea too!

[risga]

Yes, deflating the tyre pressure would help.

If you do get stuck, do not attempt to force the car out by accellerating, as it will only dig the wheels further into the ground. Instead, clear out the sand around the tyres which are stuck. If you have some wooden piece, insert it in front of the tyre. Then engage 2nd gear and attempt to drive the car forward with minimum accelleration as possible. If help is available, some manual pushing effort along with it will certainly help.

Kindly also bear in mind that sea water is highly corrosive. So do ensure that your car gets a fresh water wash as soon as possible.

[planet_rocker]

the sand beaches in the eastern part of the country, especially parts of WB are pretty hard when there is low tide...

check out BlackPearl's Baleno (Shankarpur beach):



one of friend's Uno: (Mandarmuni)



1100D's Ikon (Shankarpur)
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...?do=big&p=1709

i think one needs to have softer tyres with low pressure for more grip, but if the sand is soft, its bound to get stuck apart from the temporary damage it may cause (salt water, sand)

[dadu]

I have experienced it in Dubai desert safari. These guys have Toyota land Rovers, before starting the safari they deflate around 20%-30% of their tyre pressure, engage 4WD.

Once done, they will drive at an inclined angle while climbing up a dune but while decending they will come down in a straight line (never inclined, lest the sand shifts and topples the vehicle).

Although they are like the regulars, but still I saw one of them getting stuck in soft sand and had to be pulled by another one.

[ritayan]

I have seen Planes Land on Digha Beach, so the surface is important before attempt. In Dubai Dune Bashing on soft sand is a sport but needs special suspention / tyre setup and driving skills as well.

Cheers

[tsk1979]

Safari is too heavy to try such stunts. So do only if you have hard sand. Its dangerous too.
A few friends in US took their 4WD to a beach, it got struck, tried to pull it out and the chasis got damaged. It was insured, otherwise would have costed a bomb!
I have done river bed driving(sandy river bed with 1 feet water) in a gypsy, and had to do it in 4WD L mode. Got struck twice, but rocking using reverse gear got us out.

[ad75]

I tried once in the so called DRIVE IN BEACH @ Muzhappilangad near cannanore. It was my old Qualis which had 195/70 R14 Tyres.
Yes, it got stuck. And this we realised when it was almost time for an uptide. Yeah, when the sea climbs up to the shore.
So, there we were staring at the car with the tires halfway under the waves. I was almost certain the car was gone.

A group of fishermen, 50 meters of thick rope, a TATA 407 and couple a 500 rupees' notes were needed to get out from this. Rear quarter glasses were broken too by the time we got it out.

A lesson learnt the hard way

had a similar experience like speedzak's with my dad's m800 at "drive in beach" muzhapilangad.got stuck but not as bad 4 of us could push it out.next day morning while washing the car my dad discovered that the whole underbody was rusted & he says it wasnt there earlier.he got the underbody treatment done the same day.dont know if it helps.

[headers]

Yeah its possible with Safari as long as :

1. Your tires have good AT pattern..knobby and atleast 225 width
2. Your safari has a good working 4wd meahcnism
3. You do not madly accelarate and BRAKE at sand..
4. If you wanna stop, just press the clutch and allow the vehicle to coast to a stop..braking will cause a small dig in in sand making restarting difficult.
5. It is a good habit to water wash pressure wash..the vehicle after using it in sand especially beach as the atmospher is very corrosive..
6. Dont try driving on sand witha full compliment of 10 people..maybe 2 or three is better..Pls note that the safari by itself is a 2 ton monster and increasing the load will only make it more difficult for the beast.

I've had many successful attempts driving near the beaches of Chennai in many vehicles..though have not attempted on a Tata Safari..

Also, please note it is Illegal to drive on the beaches of Chennai..so you need to head out on ECR to find a lonely spot..

A final bit would be to have another car loaded with friends / MAN power / a towing rope, a shovel, etc to rescue you incase you are STUCK..

Ofcourse reducing the tyre pressure also helps..say 10 to 15 PSI each wheel would be good..

Hope this helps..
Cheers