extreme 4x4 1

4WD Driving Tips

Learn Some Tips and Tricks to Get You Out of Sticky Situations

OFF-ROAD DRIVING IN GENERAL

If you're going four-wheel driving, you'll need safety, reliability and performance from your 4x4 tyres. BFGoodrich 4WD tyres have more than 20 SCORE Baja 1000 wins and 70 overall four-wheel SCORE Desert Race Titles, so it's safe to say that we know a little about off-road tyres.

In India, off-road driving can be fun - especially if it's intentional - but it can also be dangerous due to our country's vast expanses of remoteness and extreme weather conditions.

Off-road driving is an entirely different kind of driving and at BFGoodrich Tires India, we recommend that you understand the basic techniques of four-wheel driving so you don't get stuck in precarious situations.

DRIVING ON SAND

A key to driving on sand is steadily maintaining momentum to give your tyres a chance to roll over the top of the sand rather than dig into it. For softer sand, keep the balance of acceleration and momentum to avoid your tyres digging in, but not so much power that the wheelspin you create enables your tyre to dig its own way down.

Avoid any violent or sudden moves or sharp turns on the steering wheel, as the vehicle won't respond. Instead, you'll just plough ahead like under-steering on a wet road.

A 4WD vehicle is prone to toppling over due to their high centre of gravity and tyres can cut into the sand violently causing the vehicle to trip and fall over. It's recommended that you turn in big wide arcs with plenty of time before reaching the bend or the obstacle. If you're forging new tracks, you'll need more power so you're not getting stuck.

At BFGoodrich Tires India, we recommend that you carry a quality tyre pressure gauge and drop your tyre pressures by 5psi at a time until you reach your optimal footprint on the sand that you're driving in. We advise not to drop your tyre pressures to under 20psi. By dropping your tyre pressure, you're increasing the tyre's footprint on sand, increasing the area of contact between your vehicle and the road.

Avoid driving back to town to reinflate your tyres. If you don't have an air compressor, we recommend that you drive very slowly and not long distances to ensure that your tyres don't overheat. At 20psi you don't want to be going any faster than 25km/h.

Sand driving tips:

  1. Check tide times and drive at low tide if you're driving on beaches
  2. Momentum is your best friend on sand
  3. Use a proper tyre gauge and don't guess your tyre pressures
  4. Deflate your tyres by 5psi at a time to increase your tyre's footprint until you reach optimal traction
  5. Be smooth in acceleration, steering and braking
  6. If your wheels start to spin, ease off the acceleration a little to let the tyres slow down and regain traction
  7. Don't follow other vehicles too closely

DRIVING UP HILLS & STEEP TERRAIN

Driving up hills and steep terrain is one of the most exciting and dangerous activities you can do in your 4WD. Exciting because it's adventurous and you're living on the edge, and dangerous because there's a high risk of you rolling your vehicle and by 'rolling' we mean by rolling all the way down.

Ascending the hill: before you rev your engine and charge up the hill, this is a good chance to step outside your vehicle and do some exercise by checking the track in advance to ensure there are no obstacles en route and a clear exit at the top. A surprise cliff at the end makes for a very bad day. Use a high gear - if the gear is too low you will spin the tyres, if it's too high you will lose power. We advise you start by selecting 2nd gear, low ratio and use a short run up to gain momentum. Try to gauge your momentum so you climb the hill at a walking pace and no faster. Never change gear or direction once you've committed to a hill and be prepared to lose vision as the sky may fill your windscreen on a steep climb - this is why you check beforehand to ensure there's no surprise cliff at the end.

Ascending hills and steep terrain tips:

  1. Approach the hill straight on so the weight is distributed equally, providing equal traction to all four tyres.
  2. Use the highest gear the vehicle will handle comfortably on the hill. If the gear is too low, you will spin the tyres. If it's too high, you won't have enough power.
  3. Always prepare for a failed climb and have an escape plan.

What to do if you don't make it up? Don't fret if you don't make it up the climb the first time, this happens to both novice and experienced drivers. However, if you don't make it up the climb, it's very important to know how to get back down safely. It doesn't sound hard, but it's riddled with dangers.

Pitfalls of not making it up the hill: if you're losing control of your vehicle down a steep gradient and going backwards, your first reaction is to kick the clutch to prevent the engine from stalling - Don't do this. If you put your foot on the clutch, it means you no longer have forward drive - worst of all - you are helping gravity to roll your vehicle backwards quicker.

Once the backwards rolling has started and if you're not kicking the clutch, your next automatic reaction is to pump the bakes. On a steep gradient, this also won't help you. The backwards momentum of your vehicle will send you into a slide, but with no wheel rotation, you'll lose your ability to steer your vehicle.

I am rolling down a hill backwards and I can't put my foot on the brake or clutch: so you've reached that moment of truth with the hill you're trying to conquer and have realised you don't have enough momentum to take you over the top… Instead of jumping out of your car here's what you do to get back down.

Stall Recovery Technique (Manual vehicles):

  1. Don't touch the clutch - this is harder than you think
  2. While you're going into your engine stall depress the foot brake slowly and smoothly
  3. Pull your hand brake. Now you have three mechanical elements that prevent you from rolling backwards: you're still in gear, your foot brake and your hand brake
  4. If someone can get out of the car to guide you back down great, but don't get out of the car as this means you're releasing the foot brake
  5. Put your foot gently back on the clutch
  6. Shift your vehicle into reverse gear and engage in low range
  7. Slowly take your foot off the clutch
  8. With your foot still on the foot brake , slowly release the hand brake
  9. Carefully and slowly remove your foot brake
  10. With with the gear engaged and the engine off, you should remain still
  11. Restart your engine with your foot off the clutch to let the car's engine braking control to assist in your descent

You should now be on your way back down, but try not to touch the accelerator or brake. If the hill is steep, you may need to tap the brakes gently, but this is risky as you may lock your wheels and trigger a slide. Once you've made it back to the bottom, have another go, but try a different tact. If it didn't work the first time, it probably won't work again, so try a different route, change your tyre pressure or mule some equipment up the hill on foot.

Stall recovery technique for those of you with fancy automatic transmissions, here's what you do if you get stuck up a hill:

  1. Put your foot on the brake
  2. Pull your hand brake
  3. If you've stalled your engine, put the transmission into 'Park'. Now you have three mechanical elements that prevent you from rolling: Your transmission is still in drive or park mode, your foot brake and your hand brake
  4. If someone can get out of the car to guide you back down great, but don't get out of the car as this means you're releasing the foot brake
  5. If your engine has stalled then you need to restart it
  6. Shift your transmission into Neutral
  7. Engage in Low Range
  8. Shift your transmission into Reverse
  9. With your foot brake depressed, carefully release the hand brake
  10. Slowly remove the foot brake to start your controlled descent

You should now be on your way back down, but try not to touch the accelerator or brake. If the hill is steep, you may need to tap the brakes gently, but this is risky as you may lock your wheels and trigger a slide. Once you've made it back to the bottom, have another go, but try a different tact. If it didn't work the first time, it probably won't work again, so try a different route, change your tyre pressure or mule some equipment up the hill on foot.

Tyre pressure for uphill ascend: in your conquest of hills, you'll need as much traction available to you as possible and to help you achieve this, you may want to reduce your tyre pressure before you start your ascend. There's no recommended tyre pressure for this, as different terrains will need different tyre pressures, but remember you don't want to puncture your tyre halfway up the hill, so be conservative with the deflation of your tyres.

Descending steep hills: going down a steep hill in your 4WD is much easier than going up, for a start you're facing the right way with better visibility than going uphill and you've also got gravity on your side. However, gravity isn't always a good thing when the gradient is too steep, therefore, like driving uphill retaining traction will be the key to your successful descend.

Driving down steep hill tips:

  1. Take a look at the track and walk down beforehand. If you can't walk down the track, then more than likely you won't be able to drive down it
  2. Have a contingency, if you're in your vehicle and lose control or it gets too steep for your liking, you're going to need a back-up plan before your descend. Just remember this may mean reversing up a steep hill, so choose your descend carefully!
  3. Tyre pressure, like going uphill, you're going to need as much traction as possible. There's no optimal tyre pressure for this, as different pressures will apply to different terrains so deflate your tyres conservatively 
  4. Decide on the best path for your vehicle to descend, usually an existing path that someone else has used is a good start
  5. Use a low range gear, if you don't your car will run away
  6. Use first gear - a combination of low range and first gear will help your car's engine brake control your descend down

I am not going to make it down safely, what do I do? If you've decided it's no longer safe to keep going down the hill, then you're going to need to come to a safe stop and reverse back up. Supposing that you've taken the correct precautions and used the recommended technique above, you shouldn't be going that fast.

Recovering from a descend down steep terrain:

  1. Apply the foot brake gently and smoothly, don't slam the brakes as it puts you at risk of locking the wheels and losing control
  2. Once you've come to a stop, pull your hand brake and put your vehicle in reverse
  3. Reverse back up the way you've come

DRIVING ACROSS STEEP SLOPES OR HILLS

According to the experts this is the most difficult exercise in four-wheel-driving. Our first recommendation on this subject is quite simple - avoid it at all costs. However, if you do decide you need to traverse across a steep slope or hill then you should do it as slowly as possible.

  1. Tyre Pressures - make sure your tyres are well inflated (inflate to on-road pressures), if they're not inflated they'll come off the rim
  2. Put your car in low range first gear without the differential lock
  3. Drive as slow as possible across the slope and if you feel your car starting to slide, turn your steering wheel immediately in the direction of the slope

Caution: Remember your 4x4 vehicle has a high centre of gravity? Driving across steep hills sideways dramatically increases your chance of losing traction. If you lose traction, you'll slide sideways and probably roll your vehicle… So please avoid driving across slopes as much as possible.

DRIVING IN MUD & RUTS

Oh mud, glorious mud, get it right and you'll have some of the best fun in your 4WD. Get it wrong and you and your car will be seriously dirty.

Having the proper mud tyres are vital in this application, as the idea is to get the full weight of your vehicle to push the tyres through the mud in an attempt to grip onto the firm ground underneath.

Tyre pressure: There's no optimal tyre pressure for this, as every situation and terrain will require a different pressure. But remember if the pressure is too low, you'll spread the weight of the vehicle too much, therefore, not getting maximum traction. If the pressure if too high, you won't get the required grip to traverse through the mud. A general rule of thumb is to not go below 20psi and not travel faster than 20km/h.

Mud driving tips:

  • Ensure you have a winch on your vehicle in case you get stuck
  • Check your route first and see how deep the mud is - ruts deeper than the clearance under your vehicle's axles will get you stuck
  • Approach the mud in 4WD and low gear and remember to build some momentum and prepare for the sudden deceleration upon contact with water and mud
  • Maintain steady pace the whole way through and keep to the high points of the track if possible
  • If you're stuck, rock the vehicle by alternating between first and reverse gears gently, or spin the wheels a little to clean the tyre tread to restore traction
  • If in doubt reverse out before it's too late

CLIMBING OVER ROCKS, LOGS, DITCHES & MOUNDS

The modifications you've made - or are going to make - to your vehicle is very important in conquering this type of terrain. Good ground clearance is what allows rocks, logs and ditches to pass underneath your vehicle without breaking fragile components on the underside of your car. While good suspensions are what keep your tyres in contact with the ground.

Rocks, logs and ditches driving tips:

  1. Approach obstacles at an angle, so that only one tyre engages, leaving the other three tyres on solid ground for traction
  2. To protect the fragile components on the underside of your vehicle, it's best to drive over an obstacle by placing one tyre on it, then gently driving over it

*Note: If the obstacle is too severe, it can cause the vehicle to become cross-axled, meaning the diagonally opposite wheels will come clear off the ground resulting in no drive

CROSSING WATER

If you're afraid of water, then we suggest you don't think about doing this as nine times out of ten, you're going to get wet.

4WD vehicles can frequently tackle water with some able to go deeper than others due to installation of snorkels, but this depends on the water you're crossing as well as the current and flow.

Water should never be driven through fast, therefore maintaining a steady speed that creates a gentle 'bow wave' at the front of your vehicle will be the key to your successes.

When your crossing has completed, always remember to drive a short distance with your foot slightly depressed on the foot brake to restore braking efficiency.

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