Pcar Squared

The Cayenne is spending the week on the outer banks, and it seems that exploring the island by 4x4 is all the rage. I know from a technical stand point that the C is capable, but I am very reluctant. Does anyone have some experience that they are willing to share, tips and tricks as well as must haves?

Also if anyone is in the area and is looking for some thing to do misery deserves company....

RUthless

GO FOR IT! I've taken ours on sand - deep sand - not that flat crap in N.C. Handles like a dream - A good car wash after is all you'll need!

ajauch

Some tips:

Avoid softer areas or large dunes until you've got some experience. You may also want to lower your tire pressure to 25 PSI or so. This will increse the surface area of your tire. Also, you may want to use a more "offroad" type tire depending on what type of tire you have now. A pure "summer" tire is going to have less traction on sand or mud than a "all seaon" or "offroad" tire. One simple indication is to check for the "M+S" rating on the sidewall. That means "Mud and Snow" rated. It's not a really good rating, but you'll be better off than with a summer only tire.

I have a set that I use for winter and offroad driving (M+S rated) and a different set for normal highway driving (summer tire).

Alex

AeroGT3RedWing

Definately take it to the beach. I live in san luis obispo, which is minutes from pismo beach, the only legally driveable beach in california. The dunes are awesome. I've seen a few cayenne's out there just tearing it up, and these dunes are massive. The cayenne just climbs straight up them and its incredibly steep. The air suspension and the ground clearance that comes with it makes it unbelieveably capable, although steel suspension would do just as well. Definately lower your air pressure to less than 30 psi, and even lower if you happen to get stuck. Its a blast and if you bought an SUV and are reluctant to take it off road (especially one as capable as the cayenne), then trade it in for a sedan :P
Hundreds of engineers spent years ensuring this car could rough it off road - do them justice!!!

JFScheck

Beach it, that's whats so cool about our Cayennes, not alotta Porsches that you can take out on the beach with ya

kerdmann

in 73 in the houston/galveston area were everybody drove on the beach, i had a $ 700 skylark, not too old, but i kept having to fix wire connections and similar stuff.
a mechanic told me that it had probably been driven on the beach (and in saltwater?).

anyway, knowing what sea air and saltwater do to things, would you be worried?

k. a.

DC from Cape Cod

I have a restored 1986 CJ for off-roading...it is better at it than the Cayenne is so it sees the beach.

wingless

Don't be afraid to put it onto jack stands and take the wheels off following the fun, for intensive cleaning. Sand will get everywhere and it is both corrosive and abrasive, so a good cleaning is the way to go.

teflon_jones

a good cleaning is good advice, just make sure to do it with LOW PRESSURE! it always kills me to see people take their car to a high pressure car wash or use a pressure washer (or even blast away with a hose with a nozzle going full steam) to get salt and grime off. all you're doing is driving the crap into the little nooks and crannies on the car where it will do the most damage, and be the hardest to remove! do yourself a favor and use low pressure with high volumes of water to remove the salt and sand.

lexpilot

Beware ! You will have rust everywhere underneath. Be prepared to take derusto spray paint and coat the obvious exposed metal parts before you go to the beach.