I will be taking my Countryman All4 on vacation next week. While there, we will have the opportunity to go tailgating at the beach.

Does anyone who has had their All4 on the sand have any experiences or words of advice to relay?

 

When I go to the beach with my other 4wd vehicles I always let the air out of the tires to low psi and then bring a compressor to pump them back to street pressure.
With the Run flats if you let the pressure out of the tires they will not react the same as a normal tire - stiff sidewalls. I would think this would be a negative in the sand.

 

I live on the NC coast and my MA said that someone bought an All4 to drive on the sand and go fishing. I asked where he goes because where I live the sand is very loose and deep in places. I think the car would make it but I wouldn't want to do this to my nice car. That's what old jeeps are for. You'd probably want different tires at a minimum - or a set of rally wheels. The run flats just don't have enough float.

 

I've run vehicles on the beach for over 25 years and will not do it ever again unless it's a cheap old jeep that I can insure cheaply with historical value.

The amount of damage the sand and salt does to the under carriage, brakes, rotors, break lines, etc is absolutely tremendous. Believe me, I know first hand.

If you are leasing the vehicle or plan on trading it in then I would say have at it and forget about it. I just feel sorry for the poor sucker who winds up with your CM after you trade it back in.

If you own the vehicle outright I wouldn't recommend riding the beach at all.

Either way the best thing you could do once you come off the beach is take the hose end lawn sprinkler attachment and let it wash the undercarriage of your CM for a good 1/2 hour or more with fresh water.

Just my .02 through experience.

Best to ya


Hobie

 

I'll add my 2-cents. I fish the Galveston Bay and Gulf coast every weekend and Misty has been on the beach about a dozen times. I have been in hard and soft sand and have had no trouble getting stuck. I would draw the line on racing around kicking all kinds of sand up and stay well away from the surf.

After unloading to kayak we go off to the car wash and get the "works" including the under-body wash. I plan on keeping the car until the body rots from the sand in about 10-years and then get another. Still cheaper than owning one exclusive for the beach.

Also did this with my R56 for three years and got tired of getting towed out of the sand. Once a group had to carry it about 15-feet.

Bill

 

I use to live and work a beach community for years, and what Hobie said is 100% true. Although I think you'd be ok with a trip here and there, just make sure you driving on hard sand and/or tracks already used, and of course do a good job rinsing off the wheels and undercarriage afterwards.

As for actually driving in sand, the countryman is certainly not perfect for it, ideally you really need a lot of ground clearance, very wide tires with a high sidewall (preferably knobby), and full time awd/4wd is preferred. I've seen many a subaru needing to get pulled out of the sand, not pretty.

 

Thanks for all of the interesting advice. I'm not too concerned about salt exposure. The car will spend its winters on New England roads. I suspect that dwarfs the damage from a few hours on the sand. I am curious about how the run-flats will perform when aired down. I admit that I've never seen one that wasn't fully inflated.

 

thats kinda the point of run flats, they always stay inflated even without air! probably not the best choice if the tire is gonna sink down, really depends on how firm the sand is

 

The best thing about rust is that eventually it all goes away


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