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wheel balance = more speed on sand?

Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 9:42 pm
by Crawford
Hey when i use to go on sand at the beach (tyres not deflated at all) i could only get up to 2nd gear before i stalled.

Now after a wheel balance (tyres still not deflated at all) i can get up to 4th gear and i cruise ont he sand a lot easier..

wouldve this made any difference?

Exactly the same sand... same place as i originally went..

cheers
Ben

Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 9:47 pm
by Gwagensteve
I would have thought that the condition of the sand would have had far more bearing than wheel balance unless they were so out of whack they were hopping, but that would have made the car undrivable on the street methinks.

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 1:07 am
by alien
yeah definitely a weather thing!

some days after its been raining, the sand can be as boggy as and really yuck! same goes after no rain at all - it turns to powder... maybe you were lucky and got it when it was just right!! hehe

that said - ive run my 215/75's at 5-7psi on sand and the thing was like a camel... didnt get stuck once! and if it did i reversed out and went through a bit faster... easy as pie =) also did 90km/hr and was doing 1.5m high jumps at that psi without any issues... although after a week of doing that i did bend the front drivers side diff housing a few degress outa whack.

moral to the story is you were lucky, and should deflate tyres on sand =)

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 4:41 pm
by flyinwall
moral to the story is you were lucky, and should deflate tyres on sand =)

Why? i have never defated tyres on the beach and i have never got stuck (bogged that much that i have to be towed out that is) fair enough it "might" make it a bit better but i have never had the need to deflate my tyres. Mind you i drive a toyota surf turbo diesel but i only have 30"x9.5" tyres on it

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 4:45 pm
by -Mick-
flyinwall wrote:moral to the story is you were lucky, and should deflate tyres on sand =)

Why? i have never defated tyres on the beach and i have never got stuck (bogged that much that i have to be towed out that is) fair enough it "might" make it a bit better but i have never had the need to deflate my tyres. Mind you i drive a toyota surf turbo diesel but i only have 30"x9.5" tyres on it


I never used to either and very rarely got stuck.... actually just once :)

But now I use 4wd as often as possible on the beach, let my tyres down and travel as slow as I can reasonably to avoid damaging the places I like to visit. Its called treading lightly ;)

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 5:08 pm
by flyinwall
the only beach that i have driven on is noosa north shore (and i dont go onto the dunes) so the tread lightly theme is irelevant there as i am only driving on the hard sand (sometimes the soft stuff if i have to avoid traffic)

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 5:08 pm
by flyinwall
the only beach that i have driven on is noosa north shore (and i dont go onto the dunes) so the tread lightly theme is irelevant there as i am only driving on the hard sand (sometimes the soft stuff if i have to avoid traffic)

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 5:44 pm
by alien
generally a harder tyre does leave deeper tracks in the sand... i do agree that on the hard stuff tyre pressure doesnt make a massive difference... all the stuff here in perth though - you pretty much have to drive over powder soft sand to get to the hard stuff - hence deflate the tyres or be spinning the wheels all the way there =)

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 5:47 pm
by redzook
also if u air down ur tires u will use less pertol/desiel

as ur motor is gettin worked nowhere near as hard

unless of couse u r driving on the hard stuff that is like a freeway near the water

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 6:01 pm
by DeWsE
IMO no matter how long your on the sand for you should always let your tyres down, so that you don't affect the track to much.

Think for the future, do your bit to keep tracks open.

Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 4:51 pm
by flyinwall
all my beach driving is done on the beach front (not on the tracks) so where i drive gets resurfaced every 6 hours