Beach driving is such a fun part of 4WDing. There’s something so relaxing about a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon down at the beach, away from the crowds, and beach 4WDing is the perfect way to find your own little quiet patch of beach paradise. Carrying your own 12v portable air compressor is so essential if you want to go take your 4WD out onto the sand.

If you don’t want to get bogged on the beach, then you have to let your tyre pressures down. This will allow you to successfully drive your 4WD on the sand, by letting the tyres spread out, creating a large ‘footprint’ that lets your tyres sit up on top of the sand, instead of digging down into it. A lot of 4WDers ask the question about what modifications are needed for driving your 4WD on the beach, and the truth is, there aren’t many!

The first accessory you’ll need to go beach 4WDing is a tyre deflator like the Kwiky Tyre Deflator or the Adventure Kings 3 in 1 Tyre Deflator. This will easily let you drop your tyre pressures for beach driving. The rule of thumb here is to start at 16psi, but you may need to go even lower if the beach is really soft. If you’re wondering how low you can run your tyre pressures, you can lower them to as little as 10psi if you’re really struggling for traction. Be aware that your steering, braking and acceleration will change dramatically when you deflate your tyres to beach-driving tyre pressures.

When you’re done 4WDing for the day, you’ll need a way to re-inflate your tyres and air them back up to road pressures. This can be done at a service station, but you should never rely on a service station air compressor. For one, they’re incredibly slow, and can take up to ten minutes per tyre to reinflate your tyres so you can drive on the road. They almost always get busy on sunny afternoons as well, and sometimes you can wait up to an hour to use one! That should be enough to convince you to carry your own portable air compressor that will run off your car battery, but if it isn’t, then this next point will definitely convince you.

The number one reason you should carry your own 12v 4×4 compressor is that if you drive on the road with your tyres at beach-driving pressures, you’re causing massive amounts of internal damage to your tyres. That’s because the steel belts within the tyres are moving and flexing to such an extent that intense heat is being created within the tyre. On the other hand, if you use a 4WD air compressor like the Thumper MKII or the Thumper Max to air your tyres back up to road pressures immediately after coming off the beach, then those steel belts don’t have as much opportunity to move around and create heat.

The heat that is created by driving on the tarmac while still running beach-driving pressures is enough to cause a blow-out on a hot day in as little as 10km. It doesn’t matter if you’re running your original tyres, or big chunky 4WDing tyres – there’s still the potential for a blow-out if you mis-treat your tyres. It’s incredibly rare that a service station will be situated right at the beach exit, so it’s a much better idea to find a nice shady spot under a tree, and use your own portable air compressor to re-inflate your tyres.

12v air compressors can use a lot of power, so you should always have your car running and idling while you’re putting air back into your tyres. This will let your air compressor work as quickly as possible because it will be getting lots of power. Connect the alligator clips to your main or starter battery, start the car and let it idle while you re inflate your tyres. This will make sure you don’t drain your battery flat as well.

But the best part is when you carry your own 12v portable air compressor, you no longer have to wait for ages at the service station to use their one, that’s if it actually  works, and the nozzle hasn’t been run over multiple times. Tens of thousands of Thumper MKII and Thumper Max 4WD compressors have been sold and are being used right around the country. Thousands and thousands of people reckon they’re the best value 4wd air compressor, and we agree!