While I had been in many 4wds offroad before, the last 12 months count for my first hand experiences. My car hasn't had much done to it apart from the following:
- sump guard
- raised king springs
- replaced rigid plastic mudflaps with rubber flexible ones and completely removed the ones in front of the front wheels.
The car has been on multiple trips down south for use on rocky/general 4wd tracks to the beach etc, some steeper sections. A mate with a Patrol commented on how well the car performed, particularly the low range (yes, although stock LR is not that low).
The car has also been up and down hard sand beaches near Lanno and the like. This is pretty much not a challenge at all and I found tyre pressure sometimes needed no adjustment.
I certainly did let the tyres down north of Two Rocks recently where the car experienced some very soft sand driving along the beach. We did get stuck at one point trying to turn around, but the recovery was short and sweet. One thing I found was that in the soft stuff I really had to keep the revs high - around 5,000 sometimes - in order to keep up momentum. Still the car performed surprisingly well and ate up all the surround tracks behind the dunes. While the soft, churned up sand on the beach proved difficult, the soft but flatter dune sand didn't seem to be much of a problem.
Anyway, I am now at the point where I'd like to make a few more mods to the car. The following is being considered:
- 1 inch strut blocks
- rubber upgrade
- 15 inch wheels
- bullbar
The strut lift is an easy one. I'd love a bullbar if I can find a second hand one. Unfortunately I've still got plenty of life left in my tyres so the rubber may have to wait. If I can find some 15 inch wheels I will obviously do the rubber upgrade, although my understanding is that for the 15 inch wheels I either need:
- 1st gen forester limited wheels (there are some on gumtree for $450 but they look a bit trashed)
- rally rims
- angle grind the brake calipers (not interested)
Oh wait here's a thought - I just bought the missus a new run-out Forester which has the same wheel size. So I could probably upgrade the rubber on my car and keep the old tyres for her when she needs a new set. Hmmmm.
Cheers
Ben
- sump guard
- raised king springs
- replaced rigid plastic mudflaps with rubber flexible ones and completely removed the ones in front of the front wheels.
The car has been on multiple trips down south for use on rocky/general 4wd tracks to the beach etc, some steeper sections. A mate with a Patrol commented on how well the car performed, particularly the low range (yes, although stock LR is not that low).
The car has also been up and down hard sand beaches near Lanno and the like. This is pretty much not a challenge at all and I found tyre pressure sometimes needed no adjustment.
I certainly did let the tyres down north of Two Rocks recently where the car experienced some very soft sand driving along the beach. We did get stuck at one point trying to turn around, but the recovery was short and sweet. One thing I found was that in the soft stuff I really had to keep the revs high - around 5,000 sometimes - in order to keep up momentum. Still the car performed surprisingly well and ate up all the surround tracks behind the dunes. While the soft, churned up sand on the beach proved difficult, the soft but flatter dune sand didn't seem to be much of a problem.
Anyway, I am now at the point where I'd like to make a few more mods to the car. The following is being considered:
- 1 inch strut blocks
- rubber upgrade
- 15 inch wheels
- bullbar
The strut lift is an easy one. I'd love a bullbar if I can find a second hand one. Unfortunately I've still got plenty of life left in my tyres so the rubber may have to wait. If I can find some 15 inch wheels I will obviously do the rubber upgrade, although my understanding is that for the 15 inch wheels I either need:
- 1st gen forester limited wheels (there are some on gumtree for $450 but they look a bit trashed)
- rally rims
- angle grind the brake calipers (not interested)
Oh wait here's a thought - I just bought the missus a new run-out Forester which has the same wheel size. So I could probably upgrade the rubber on my car and keep the old tyres for her when she needs a new set. Hmmmm.
Cheers
Ben