Avoid Getting Stuck on the Beach

For starters, if you are going to go onto a beach you must have a shovel, a tyre gauge, a compressor, some basic knowledge of how to drive your vehicle and of course some common sense. If you have another vehicle then a snatch strap is a great item to take along too.

For most beaches, driving in between 12 and 18 PSI is a good range to be in for your tyres to bulge out properly. By letting air out of the tyres you are allowing them to spread more over the sand, which in turn means the vehicle sinks less and you keep on going. Sand driving should be done in low range in older vehicles or high range if your engine can comfortably handle it. Don’t drive in the salt water, and try to stick to the main tracks if possible. This ensures that everyone can drive along a beach that is flat and not chopped up!

A good way to drive on the beach is to keep your engine revs near the maximum torque. This ensures that you are working the engine as least as possible, as beach work can be quite cumbersome on the engines. If your car is struggling there is a good chance that you need to let the tyres down more. Don’t over rev the engine though, or you will damage it. Instead of picking a higher gear, be happy to let it rev at the peak torque and just let the car do the work. There is no need to flog the vehicle along a beach – it will only overheat and drink a lot of fuel!