Any of you done it? We’ll be down there from 7/6 to 7/13 and I was thinking about picking up the 7 day pass for the Murano. It’s $50 and you have to bring a compressor, jack and jack support.
It’s AWD, with an AWD lock, tires are almost brand new all seasons and they’re decently wide so when I drop them to 15-18psi I’m pretty confident in it’s ability to float over the sand. The house we stay at is in Rodanthe on the sound side, about a 5 minute walk to the beach. The walk itself is fine but when we want to stay at the beach for an extended period carrying all the stuff can be a pain. This is where I’m thinking taking the SUV loaded up and using it as our home base at the beach would be nice.
I’ve done it years ago in Corolla (north end of OBX). I’d think you’d be fine. We had no problems with a Durango (didn’t air down at all) in 4 high. Saw a few AWD Astro vans out there too that had no issues as well.
Well I packed a bottle jack, collapsible shovel, 3/4 plywood base for the jack, tow strap and my 12volt compressor. Definitely going to give beach driving a shot.
Hammered on that poor center muffler that hangs down way too low a little.
Other than that I was good, the car was good, probably won’t do it again just because it takes so damn long to bring 4 tires from 18 psi to 34 with a 12 volt compressor. At full pressure I was digging in pretty bad.
Actually it’s going back to them when we get back because it almost fell off. Right now there’s a stainless screw and washer I picked up at a hardware store holding it in. And this happened before any beach driving.
i was down there back in 08 when i had my full size ram, it was fun. at the same time i prepared and brought a tow strap. there were 3 groups in 3 4x4’s. one guy didnt let the air out, and got stuck a lot and i had to keep pulling him out of the access ways. the actual beach was not bad. it was the narrow sand trails to get to the beach that were rutted up bad. letting the air out helped hugely. if i do it again, i am going to rent a full size 4x4 truck and not use my own.
Where I parked and took pictures was the best driving conditions. The trails to and from the beach was where it got a little hairy for my “soft roader”. I’d love to rent a little Wrangler for a couple days and really explore it. Being the only one in our group to get the off road permit made me real nervous about getting stuck.
