It’s summertime and despite what the weather is doing it is definitely time for a beach run, hitting the sand in your 4WD (new or old) is one of the most fun and rewarding experiences you can have behind the wheel of your 4WD. But don’t fool yourself it is also some of the toughest and most punishing terrain you can tackle.

Beach sand can vary in how compact it is, and unless you are hitting one of those city beaches that are well travelled, you can find talcum powder soft sections that will eat your 4WD whole!

We’re going to give you our top tips for not only having a great time at the beach, but also how to get further without needing to call up your mate for a snatch out of trouble!

You’ve probably heard this one about a million times, DROP YOUR TYRE PRESSURES DOWN!

We cannot stress this enough, not only will your 4WD gain up to 300% more traction on the soft surfaces, it will give you more “float” resulting in not getting stuck in the tricky sections. Whenever we hit the tracks we pull out the Kwiky Tyre Deflator to drop our tyres down from around 35psi all the way to around 16-18psi in just a couple of minutes – this tool is purpose designed and is perfect for getting all of your tyres pressures dropped evenly.

With even pressures on all 4 corners it will mean your handling will be predictable and smooth and although aggressive mud terrain tyres may look really mean on your 4WD, in a lot of cases on sand, they will cause you to sink in a little more because of the deep grooves ability to “self clean” so if the main tracks you hit are sandy, a good reliable set of All Terrain treaded tyres will suit the bill, as well as getting more mileage on the highway than a typical set of muddies!

With your tyres purposefully flattened out a bit it is time to hit the tracks!

However, despite popular belief, giving it more right boot will not get you less stuck, smooth accelerator inputs will prevent your tyres from digging their own trenches, the same goes for sharp steering inputs and heavy braking, any sudden adjustments could result in your tyres searching for rock bottom, and you quickly finding out how difficult it is to shovel out your 4WD from soft sand!

When you are ready to stop and have a dip in the big pond, you should definitely always unroll your awning first, this will give you the perfect way to quickly get back in the shade, and stay cool, a quality awning will be UPF50+ and will also take advantage of fully waterproof fabric. So even if you decide you are going to stay put for the evening, the afternoon rain won’t put a dampener on your camping setup!

If you happen to have another location in mind further down the tracks, you should definitely make sure you have a good set of neoprene seat covers over your upholstery, this will mean the salt water won’t stain the fabrics or ruin the leather and you won’t have to wrap your seat in a towel to keep it tidy!

Finally, if you are in a vehicle that is built in the late 90’s or on-wards, then fitting an Engine Data Scan tool to your OBDII port will definitely help you to keep track of everything that is going on underneath the bonnet. This handy device acts like a black-box flight recorder, and will track things like oil pressure, engine coolant  temperature, fuel usage, and even as a check engine fault light diagnosis tool, with the ability to not only give a readout of the fault code, but also to give you the ability to fix the issue and clear the code in the bush, without hefty mechanics bills or expensive towing!

When you have all the right gear for the job and are prepared, your 4WD will love hitting the beach wherever and whenever you need it too – so get prepared, summer doesn’t last forever, and hit the tracks in style!