06 Outback 3.0, will be ok on the Sand? (Muriwai)

[Subby]

I use to take my old outback along the sand in NSW and I see there is a club for Brumbies etc up Stockton Beach (above Newcastle)

Does anybody take their AWD Subarus up NZ beaches?

I mainly want to for fishing along Muriwai and 90 mile beach.

Will buy some beach retrieval gear of course as everybody gets stuck once in their lives. 

I also wonder if there is a set of tyres that would be suited for the sand and for the road? Currently on Potenza's but I imagine next January they will need replacing, already done 55kkm on them.

[Bugle]

The thought of all that salt/sand makes my soul weep but I'm sure many folk do

[Subby]

5 hours ago, Bugle said:

The thought of all that salt/sand makes my soul weep but I'm sure many folk do

I dont know why but my last one had no issues what so ever. its almost like they used anti corrosive spray on the under carriage. I always use an under carriage washer  with some saltaway.

But many SUV/4wds get on the sand, Outbacks were designed just for Tarmac. If I was going for a nice drive on road only, Id go a B4 legacy/Liberty. Nice firm ride in those. 

[boon]

Keep an eye on the seams in the door sills. That's where my old man's one started to go brown, and it never went on the sand, just boat ramps.

[Subby]

On 2/03/2021 at 7:32 PM, Subby said:

I dont know why but my last one had no issues what so ever. its almost like they used anti corrosive spray on the under carriage. I always use an under carriage washer  with some saltaway.

But many SUV/4wds get on the sand, Outbacks were designed just for Tarmac. If I was going for a nice drive on road only, Id go a B4 legacy/Liberty. Nice firm ride in those. 

I was pretty sure they did spray under carriage during manufacturing with proper de salinastion. But I spray mine out at home with just a simple sprayer under the car which I hook up to salt away and I rung it at the front, then the back. I dont bother if just using the boat ramp. 

 

We nearly bought a B4, they are such an enjoyable ride. But we keeping the outback as a tow vehicle for the boat as we have a small hybdrid on the way for normal road use, 4.2l to the 100km vs 10.5L to the 100km from the H6 3.0 in the outback.

[ginganinja]

The biggest thing is to always rinse the underneath of the car with fresh water after every single time you go on the beach. Rinse through any underbody trays,  and into any holes in the chassis where sand can get into.

 

As far as tyres go, standard road tyres are fine in the sand, in fact they some times work better than A/T's and M/T's. The biggest thing is having a decent tyre that you can let the pressure down if you need to. Perhaps get some smaller wheels and then tyres with a bigger sidewall. Letting the tyres down in  pressure makes a world of difference and reduces the load on the transmission. Always pays to carry a mobile compressor on board so you can inflate them again as soon as you get back onto the road.

 

You will be surprised how well it will go on the sand. The Subaru AWD system is very good!!