Pismo Sand

[WesternDirtRoads]

High tide forced us up onto deep sand. Aired down below 20. Got out.

 

[DintDobbs]

@WesternDirtRoads People who haven't done it, don't understand what it is driving on sand; it's unlike any other terrain really. Very unforgiving. Many rookies think that deep, aggressive tread patterns help in sand, but speaking from experience, aired down road tires probably fare just as well. I've outwheeled many A/T-wearing rigs in my stock Explorer with Primewell Valera HT's, ha ha.

Nice rig ya got there!

 

[Longshot270]

@WesternDirtRoads People who haven't done it, don't understand what it is driving on sand; it's unlike any other terrain really. Very unforgiving. Many rookies think that deep, aggressive tread patterns help in sand, but speaking from experience, aired down road tires probably fare just as well. I've outwheeled many A/T-wearing rigs in my stock Explorer with Primewell Valera HT's, ha ha.

Nice rig ya got there!

I can second this. I prefer my soft cooper P rated street tires over my hard bfg ko2 E tires in fluffy beach sand. The coopers are just more likely to get damaged by debris. I also knew several old surf fishermen who swore by those no longer legal bald tires.

On our last trip, I was at street pressure under conditions that I’d be airing down to 2/3 street pressure.

 

[AggieOE]

Sand terrifies me. I avoid it at all costs and hammer through it if able. I used to do a beach trip down in Matagorda every year and would have to drive about an hour in sand to get to our campsite. It always felt like hell. Now I just time it with low tide and relax a lot more!

 

[tjZ06]

I grew up going to Pismo. For years I towed a ~40 foot ~15k lbs 5th wheel up into the soft sand with my D'max (I didn't like being down in the zoo when the tide started coming in and everybody was scrambling to shift their camps slightly up the beach). I'm not saying I haven't been stuck, because I certainly have. But airing down, momentum, and never stopping on anything other than a downhill help a lot.

-TJ

 

[slomatt]

Many years ago 3 friends and I took a 1970 Datsun 510 to Pismo, almost floated it when crossing the creek, and then drove it out to the end of the beach past where all the big trucks were until we eventually got stuck. The car only weighed about 2k lbs and we had brought some scraps of wood so we were able to lift up the rear end, shove some wood under the tires, and get it turned around. That car did amazingly well on the sand, even with 4 people in it. We got a lot of odd looks from people in much larger vehicles.

@Joaquin Suave the creek seems to have claimed quite a few vehicles over the years. I remember being there one time when three cars were all stuck in a line. One got stuck, then the first rescuer got stuck, then the second rescuer got stuck trying to recover the first. Actually, now that I think about it that was another instance when light weight helped since while they were getting sorted out I watched a Nissan Sentra drive right past them in the river with no issues.

 

[WesternDirtRoads]

Amazingly, we drove the Creek (tide out all the way) from the surf straight up the Creek (pulling a trailer) just for fun no problem.

 

[WesternDirtRoads]

Found Bob's hand car wash in Pismo. Two pros with pressure washers cleaned it great for 15 bucks

 

[DintDobbs]

@Joaquin Suave OSPHO. Stuff is better than magic. It will destroy paint, though.

Weight is probably the most important factor on sand. Wide, shallow-cut tires and light weight will get you far. Airing down will get you farther. Go as fast as possible and as slow as necessary!

 

[WesternDirtRoads]

Perfect advice. My rig is 9,000lb loaded, pulling a 1,000lb loaded trailer on RT treads. Worst for soft sand. Once momentum goes, it's over. Period.

 

[WesternDirtRoads]

THAT IS RAD

 

[WesternDirtRoads]

Where's home?