All you need to know about driving your 4WD on sand

Driving a 4x4 on sand is one of the most enjoyable aspects of off-roading and often it’s the only way to get to great camping or fishing spots.

But it can also quickly turn sour.

When driving on soft sand, either on beaches or desert dunes, you can get stuck very quickly.

There are also some dangers to sand driving that we’ll explain, and, like any off-roading, some skill and preparation is important.

There are things to do before you even head for the dunes. The first is ensuring you have the right gear.

Recovery tracks are a must, and a snatch strap and shackles are also a very good idea, although the strap and shackles won’t do anything by themselves. To use them if bogged, you’ll need another 4WD nearby to hook them up to.

You’ll need an accurate and good-quality tyre gauge to change tyre pressures. You can’t always find a service station nearby to reinflate your tyres when off the beach, so a good-quality electric air compressor is a smart option.

A small shovel is useful for clearing sand from underneath your vehicle if you’ve bogged it down to the chassis.

A sand flag is a mandatory requirement for some 4x4 sand locations, and is a good idea even if not. Cresting a dune when unable to see anything but the sky – with another 4WD coming up the opposite way directly at you – is not what you want.

Most 4WD beaches and some desert parks require that you pay a fee for an access permit.

While you can often buy such a permit on the day, make sure you know how and where to do so before you go. Some require that you book beforehand, others have a mandatory sand flag use requirement.

While you’re doing your permit research, also get the latest tide charts if beach driving. You don’t want to find your exit off the beach blocked by a fast incoming tide.

Take plenty of drinking water for a day on the sand. Even in cooler months, you can get hot out in the sun, especially if you’re digging out a bogged 4WD.

A comprehensive first-aid kit is also important, because if someone gets injured, it’s often a long way to the shops for band-aids or, if the worst should happen, a medical centre.

Having all the right recovery gear won’t help if you don’t know how to use it.

There is no substitute for experience, and a good way to get that is to do a 4WD training course where such terrain is included.

You’ll get invaluable training on vehicle recovery and also a feel for what your 4x4 off-roader can and cannot do on sand.

If you can join a 4WD tag-along for your first trip on the dunes, that is also a very practical way of learning what to do and not to do on the sand.

You’ll know already from just walking in the stuff that soft sand offers a lot of resistance.

It’s the same with a 4WD’s tyres and the best way to counter that is to reduce tyre pressures to improve the tyre contact patch. This allows the tyres to ‘float’ on the sand rather than dig in.

If you’re running standard tyres, drop pressures to 20psi and see how well the tyres float over the sand. If that doesn’t stop the tyres from digging in, try 2psi reductions – but don’t go any lower than about 15psi. Going too low increases the risk of spinning the rim on the tyre, staking the sidewall or rolling the tyre off the rim.

Rubber-band-thin low-profile tyres fitted to some performance-oriented four-wheel drives are not ideal for sand driving, as generally speaking their contact patch is not improved much with lower pressures.

Towing a trailer on sand is not recommended until you have plenty of experience, as it increases the chance of getting bogged.

Check list for driving on and in sand

Before going onto the sand, select low-range, as this allows you to keep momentum without spinning up wheels too quickly – which increases the chance of getting bogged.

You can always stop and re-engage high-range for driving on the hard-packed beach.

Beach access tracks are often chopped up and require a certain amount of caution. Even though they usually require a fair bit of momentum – especially if on an incline – you can bottom-out the suspension and cause damage if you go too fast.

This is one of the most important skills to learn when sand driving – to recognise when you have enough momentum to not get bogged but not so much that you risk damage.

Steering will feel very strange until you’re used to it; understeer is normal, as the tyres try to get purchase in the soft sand to change direction.

Don’t apply too much steering lock or fight the steering. You may need to slow down a little so the vehicle goes where you want it to.

It might seem like fun to make sharp turns on open dunes, with sand flying off the tyre, but you increase the chance of a tyre rolling off a rim.

That is as good as getting a flat tyre, one you won’t be able to pump up with a 12-volt compressor. Changing a tyre on soft sand is not fun.

Try to follow existing tracks as they tend to be more hard-packed. Approach dune crests cautiously and never climb or descend a steep dune at a side angle – you risk rolling your vehicle over.

Before descending steep dunes, you first want to ensure you have locked in low-range first gear and/or hill descent control and then check your exit at the bottom of the dune is clear.

Then point the vehicle straight down the dune, foot off the accelerator, then gently accelerate away as the nose rises from the base of the dune.

If your 4WD is sliding sideways on the descent, you may need to accelerate very slightly to straighten it up.

Don’t drive on vegetation because that will destabilise the dunes.

Try to avoid hitting the brakes to stop, as that will build a mound of sand in front of the tyres and dig the tyres in, making for a more difficult take-off later.

Just ease off the accelerator and, if needed, apply a gentle press on the brakes.

When you’ve lost all momentum and the wheels are still spinning, get off the accelerator and on to the brakes. Otherwise you’ll only dig your 4WD in deeper.

If you’ve become bogged while climbing a dune, you may be able to gently reverse out of the situation.

Don’t panic if you do get hopelessly bogged. It’s not the end of the world. Even experienced four-wheel drive operators do it. Take a breath and assess the situation.

Having done 4WD recovery training already will help here. We don’t have the space here to discuss 4x4 recovery in detail, but on sand it is usually quite straight-forward.

Don’t drive in the surf, as tempting as it is, unless for example you have to pass a headland with no other way out. (If you’ve checked the tides and timed it right though, this shouldn’t happen.)

Exposure to such salt water will make your 4WD rust more quickly. With the surf rushing over the sand, you can also get bogged very quickly if you slow down too much. You only need to see the photos of 4x4s half buried on the beach to see what eventually can happen.

Driving across a freshwater run-off, such as at Fraser Island, can be very tricky. You need caution but also momentum. Slow down to assess how deep the water is and how sharp the drop-off into and out of the water is before choosing an appropriate speed and position to drive through the crossing.

Don’t ever stop or slow to a crawl in such water run-offs as you will most likely get bogged.

Most of us are unfamiliar with beaches having vehicle traffic. You tend to only think of them having seagulls and a few people about.

So if you do pull up on the beach for a picnic or swim, keep a vigilant eye out for other vehicles and don’t park in the intertidal zone.

The beach intertidal zone on some beaches has an 80km/h speed limit, and often it’ll be hard to hear 4WDs barrelling along over the noise of the surf.

When you have come off the sand, don’t forget to inflate the tyres to the usual road pressures as soon as possible.

If you don’t, you risk the tyres overheating and blowing out.

Sand driving – Quick reference do’s and don’ts
Before you go:
• Do a 4WD driver training course
• Take the right recovery gear – recovery tracks as a minimum
• Obtain permits as required
• Take plenty of drinking water and snacks
When you get to the dunes:
• Drop tyre pressures
• Keep momentum in soft sand
• Keep to existing tracks, stay off vegetation
• Don’t drive in the surf
• Don’t drive along the side of a steep dune
• Don’t make sharp, fast turns on lowered tyre pressures
• Be aware of other 4WDs around; some intertidal zones are officially roads
• Return tyres to normal road pressures when you’re back off the sand