4WD Driving Tips For Beginners: How To Prepare For Your First Off-Road Drive

If you've never driven a 4WD vehicle before, you're in for both a challenge and a treat. Driving 4WD vehicles can be great fun, but it also involves technical skill and knowledge, and you'll need to be prepared in case your vehicle gets stuck. 4WD vehicles are designed for off-road terrain types including mud and sand, but it doesn't mean that they can drive through anything at any speed. Follow our guide below to prepare yourself for your first 4WD drive off-road.

 

Equipment you'll need to pack

Before your drive, it's important to pack essential equipment in the boot of your 4WD vehicle that could be invaluable if your vehicle gets stuck during your drive. Equipment that you should pack before your drive includes:

• Recovery tracks, which can be placed in front or behind your vehicle so that you can drive it out of mud

• Rated tow straps, which can be used to tow your vehicle out of mud if recovery tracks don't work

• Shackles, which can be used in more complex recovery situations

• Shovels, which can sometimes be used to dig your vehicle out of a tough spot

Extra equipment that you might want to pack before your drive includes:

• A tyre deflator, which can be used before crossing softer ground to reduce pressure in your tyres

• An air compressor, to reinflate tyres after this

• Spare shoes, an optional extra but useful for wading through deep mud

Bringing along these items of equipment is not an admission of lack of skill; even the most skilled and experienced 4WD sometimes get bogged down or stuck in particularly deep or dangerous terrain. Rather, being prepared in advance is a mark of an experienced and responsible 4WD driver.

 

How to drive over different types of terrain

During your first 4x4 drive, the chances are that you'll experience at least some off-road terrain - because that's where all the fun is, right? While off-road scenes in films might make it look easy, actually there is a lot of skill involved in off-road driving, no matter how good your 4WD vehicle is at tackling different terrain. Whether you're driving through mud and dirt or sand, follow our tips on safe and effective off-road driving below.

 

Driving Through Mud and Dirt

There's nothing like the feeling of driving a 4WD vehicle through the mud; it's both one of the most enjoyable and the most challenging terrains that you can drive over. If you're approaching a patch of particularly muddy ground, especially if it's wet and muddy, it's important to change your driving style to suit this terrain.

First, if you brought a tyre deflator with you, now is the time to find a safe place to pull over and let some of the air out of your tyres. Lowering the pressure of your tyres will give your vehicle tyres a large surface area, which means they can get a better grip on the ground and spread the weight of your vehicle out more. For driving through mud, your tyres will work best with a pressure of just a little over 20psi. It's also important to be able to read the terrain ahead of you; this means identifying what kind of mud you're driving through, and in particular, how wet and clay-like the mud is.

Dirt tracks with lots of grit are relatively easy to drive over, while clay-like dirt gets boggy and soft when wet. For wetter terrain, make sure all of your vehicle's traction systems are switched on and drive slowly through the mud, avoiding boggy areas that might gather at each side of the path. When driving up or down muddy hills, it's important to stay in low gear and go slowly, especially when driving downhill. It's important to only drive on muddy descents if you know the road ahead is safe first: otherwise, you could face a steep, unexpected drop-off with no time to stop.

 

Driving Through Sand

Driving on the beach is one of the best ways to get up close to some of Australia's most beautiful landscapes. If you take your 4WD vehicle to a beach, you'll need to know how to drive a 4WD through the sand. Sand can pose unique challenges because of the way it compresses and falls under the weight of your vehicle. Just like when you're driving over mud, letting some air out of your tyres can improve the grip of your vehicle when driving over sand: just remember that you'll always have to reinflate your tyres before returning to the road.

You should also make sure you have plenty of fuel in your tank to get home because beach driving can guzzle through petrol incredibly quickly. It's also, once more, important to pay attention to your surroundings when driving over sand. Avoid wet patches of sand where possible, because this will be soft and much easier to get bogged down in. If you must drive over wet sand, follow a previous vehicle's tyre tracks, which will have compacted the sand for you, and slow down. Driving in summer, when the sand is dry and compact, is the easiest way to experience beach driving for beginners.

 

Get In Touch

To book your first 4WD adventure, or to find out more about safe and responsible 4x4 driving, call 1300 Meteor Rentals today on 1300 638 367. We are your local experts on 4WD rentals in Cairns, Townsville, Mt Isa, and beyond. Our friendly experts are always here to help you prepare for the drive.