Driving in sand question

We just made our first drive off road, in deep sand on a beach. I have a question as I've read conflicting advice about something; should I drive in the tracks made by other vehicles in the sand or make new tracks?
TIA for any advice.
BTW, we LOVED the feeling of driving on the beach, waves crashing right outside our H3; we can't wait to go back!

When I lived in VA Beach we used to follow the tracks unless they were deep ruts. Just figured that the sand is packed down there a little better for driving (at least on a beach where it is wet). I have always heard conflicting reports on this also, just know that it always worked for me. But if you are wanting to have fun "off roading" you might want to stay out of the tracks for the same reason.

Tough question w/out seeing the terrain, but I wouldn't use staying in the ruts as a maxim to use whenver you're in sand.  Use your judgement and see what your rig is telling you.

Driving in sand is kind of a tricky question.  What kind of sand, wet or dry, hard packed or loose, etc... 
Sounds like beach sand for you and hard packed.  No big deal there, follow the tracks because you know someone has ALREADY gone through there and made it.  If you follow them to a stuck vehicle, DON'T STOP, keep an even speed, and try to move away from the soft spot where they are. 

Here in California "Pismo" we have the same luxury of driving on the beach.  

but one of the benefits of Pismo is that there are dunes as well . . . . . .

Was this a "Gay HUMMER Owners" outing? If it was I may be interested in future events.

If you follow the tire tracks you know you can get through.
 
I know we all like to go blasting through the sand and think wheel spin will power us out and with a HUmmer, in most cases it will. But If you find yourself in some deap sand and are starting to get bogged down, here are some things I have found that are helpful.
 
1. Avoid stopping.
2. If you have to stop, stay off the brakes, coast to a stop.
3. Use steady engine power. Ease on and off the throttle.
4. Try to get up on top of the sand. Faster is better than slower.
5. Lower tire pressure works better than hard tires.
6. Bald tires work the best. Big mud lugs work terrible.
7. Avoid turning your steering wheel.
8. Avoid wheel spin. If you are stuck it only turns the tires into mining equipment and I have seen tires melt from the heat generated by the friction.
 
If you are getting stuck, ease off the throttle and it may pop out on top of the sand.
 
If you do get stuck, get off the throttle as you may dig yourself down to the frame and hang it up. If you have hung it up, jack it up, fill in the whole the let it back down.
 
Get out and dig a level path in front of the tire or whichever way you plan to drive out. You do not need to dig out the sides of the tire because you aren't driving out sidways. Very lightly ease onto the throttle and let it build up speed to get you back on top of the sand. If the wheels just spin and you don't get out, dig your flat spot again and roll back and forth untill you have packed down a long enough ramp to get back out on top of the sand.
 
Things like boards, rocks, young children and such placed in front of the tires only work like wheel chocks unless they are placed level with or below the bottom of the tire.
 

I've been in sand, Michigan has Sh!t loads of it.  Soft, fine powder, packed, wet, coarse........we got it all.  I have NEVER heard of follow the track until this thread.  I guess if you are in a mini van you should definitely follow the tracks?
 
Bald tires suck, but I do agree that most good mud tires are not good sand tires.  The 33 Deulers are adequate, but they are not great either,  You need flotation in sand.  Wide tires do great as there is no need to dig to traction like in mud, and snow for that matter.  Tall tires do not help you.  35s may look sweet, but 33s with more width will run circles around the taller tire.
 
With a 3, just run 4 hi lock, and TURN OFF the StabliTrack.  As heavy as the 3 is, it does pretty dang darn good in sand, and with real tires, it can go anywhere you want.  I can go anywhere with the stock Deulers, just takes a little more finesse.
 

 

 
 
 

quote:

ORIGINAL: Daytona Hummer

Things like boards, rocks, young children and such placed in front of the tires only work like wheel chocks unless they are placed level with or below the bottom of the tire.

 

I say stay in the tracks.  The sand is allready compacted somewhat and you should get better gas mileage.
 
If you want to have fun get up a little speed, kick it in to 2WD and hit the soft stuf..... GM, how 'bout a 3 speed transfer case?

There is a lot of sand over here as you probably gathered, so thats what 90% of our offroading entails in this part of the world
I usually deflate the tyres anything between 14 to 18 psi depending on the sand expected, whether its soft powder or grainier more stable stuff although owing to the weight of the car care has to be taken not to pop a tyre off the rim at lower pressures.
If you are just beach driving, theres nothing wrong sticking to the tracks of others, but its not much fun compared to finding your own way. Momentum is the key on sand, maintaining a steady pace and getting to know when and when not to hit the gas is something you can only learn with experience. Where to stop is something to think about, as we have dunes we tend to try and stop the car on a slope, easy when there's plenty of dunes but on largely flat sand such as a beach dont stop in the soft dry sand otherwise when you come to restart you will probably get bogged down. So look for the wetter areas that are firm but stay away from the tides, if you get stuck with an active tide around the wheels your car wil get sucked into the sand real quick and it will take more than another SUV to recover you.
 
We have great desert areas over here, some dunes topping 750ft and as the desert is largely unpopulated there are very few tracks to follow, we just make our own and try not to get swallowed up in some of these giant bowls that catch you out at times when in unknown areas.
 
Driving on sand is addictive, I think you have probably caught the bug already, getting stuck is part of the fun and you will learn from each stuck what to avoid doing next time to keep moving
 
Most of all have fun and enjoy.

and the only thing I have to add to all of this... if you stop...and you will...
 
Back up a foot or so... and then start moving forward.

Here down Cape Cod on the National Seashore, they make you drive in the grooved trail to avoid more erosion, (the Cape is shrinking quickly from major storms). In most places there is only 1 set of tracks for on or off the beach and if another truck is leaving the beach he has the right away & you have to get on to the open sand to allow the them to do so.
The best driving results are to deflate tire pressure down between 14 - 18 psi which they require, I usually go down lower to about 10 psi, it allows you to "float" easier over softer sand.
 


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