Was just wondering if you thought AT's should be used on sand and not the OEM's.
Years ago I had Bridgstone Desert Duellers on a 4.2 diesel Patrol and really there isnt a lot of difference between them and the Forester OEM's except the OEM's are narrower
Les
An aggressive all-terrain tread pattern is definitely not necessary on the worlds largest sand island but low pressures and a lot of side-wall is.
Where I was angling with that question is that, from the look of your profile photo, the rim/tire combo on your model is 225/55r18. That is not what I would consider an offroad compatible tire. If you are just driving on a hard sand I would expect no problems but you could also drive a Hyundai Excel on hard sand so that's not saying much.
This isn't your first 4x4 so I'm assuming you understand the concept of airing down. You will be aired down on Fraser, in fact you will be aired down at Inskip just to get onto the barge before Fraser. An aired down 55 profile tire on an 18 inch rim really doesn't bag out much at all so isn't giving any traction advantage and seriously exposes you to rim and tire damage.
Don't think you won't damage tires on Fraser. There are tree roots and pot holes on the inland tracks, rocks at Yidney, Poyungan and Ngkala, and washouts on the beach. Speaking from experience I once seriously bent a 16 inch alloy there from hitting a washout too hard.
I guess I'm trying to say it's not about the tread pattern at all, it's about the tire's ability to safely run low pressures in order to extend it's footprint without exposing the rim or tire to damage.
I see it all the time on Fraser, city 4x4's with their flash low profile all terrain tires bogging the tracks and holding up everyone behind them. They consider 20 psi is low because they are scared of damaging the rims. All the tread pattern in the world isn't helping them because the tire doesn't have enough sidewall to work properly on sand.
I'm not saying you will have problems with 18 inch wheels I'm just suggesting that a 215/65r16 would be a better replacement option or even better go slightly larger than OEM to a 215/70r16. The difference would be chalk and cheese and you could air something like a BFG AT down to 6 psi if you had to drive out of any situation.
