Leaderboard

Dear Sand Warriors! @RAKIN KURIAKOSE @DANIEL NOGUEIRA @Hardik Mody @Anvar Sadath Bekal @syed salman raza @Sharooq Fassul @Mahmoud Asar @Sandi88 @Probir Mukherjee @Sai Baskaran Thanks for signing up to the PM desert drive in Qudra on Thursday! - Yes, you read it right, Thursday. A long holiday weekend means we get to drive on Thursday and hope that the sand will not be too crowded. What to expect from this drive? A lot of crossing from one dune to another. We will take the chance to practice making out way over the crests of dunes. We will do this straight up and start learnign some of the techniques of criss crossing and ridge crossing on some very small dunes. What is expected of you on this drive? Team work, patience, commitment and courage (just a little bit). The lanscape is quite forgiving for the most part with wide dunes spread out but there are soem technical areas that are much more difficult and require developed skills in the sand to overcome. ALSO - I intended to post this as a compressor only drive to give us the flexibility on start and finish point. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A COMPRESSOR, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE TOPIC THREAD. Looking forward to lots of fun in the sand on Thursday.

I just passed the RTA with the lights uncovered in place and there was no comment.

No. Having said that you are not permitted to use them on the road. And during the annual passing you will have to cover them with a rexin cover or a black tape. Alternatively you can just remove them and get the car passed.

and when you go to sleep don't forget to turn off the light 😆

You are right it will avoid light reflecting on hood but the shadow on roof will block the performance of your light to travel. I had a similar setup but after shifting it to the front below the grill i felt the difference.

Late to the party but here goes anyways. Coming from a Land Rover & Range Rover which has the same issue if you go over 50kph the air suspension drop back to normal height. To overcome this issue a company called johnson rods cake up with a simple 20min DIY solution by extending the length of the height sensors it fooled the ecu into thinking it was at normal height. SO now normal height is lifted and lifted height is super extended. Another way for the LRs was with diagnostic tool you can calibrate any of the heights levels to your own desired height pretty simple and painless procedure. Just needed to get into the air suspension module and entering in new height settings. Look around on Jeep forums I'm sure there is something similar for the JGC since it is an active community

Roof bar needs perfect placement and angle to decrease the glare from bonnet. Wrapping it snugly reduces noise significantly. If you can get a mix of white and amber led light it will be perfect because white light visibility when there is dust is awful. Best set up would be one led bar on roof ~40 inch (spot and flood combo), one spot led bar in between headlights ~20 inch and side shooters for peripheral vision. You have various brands some of which are as expensive as a car , but I have Toby's from Dragon mart. Cheap and serves the purpose with rough off road usage.

Congratulations @Desert Dweller, @Foxtrot Oscar, @Pancho for successfully completing the first session of leaders lead with flying colors. Thanks @Jeepie for supporting the first session and sharing your real life experience as a successful new leader. As you all have learned the basics first and demonstrated a perfect way to lead an independent drive in the desert, now it's your chance to work on the routing and planning skills. You will be learning the basics of leading the convoy in the desert in three different steps: Advance sand reading, plan your lead, plan your exits. Use of navigational software for selecting the right course of path. How to systematically scale the lead for all the cars in the convoy. In this second session of leaders lead you will be leading with the help of off-road navigation app or device. You can choose any device or app (motionx, gaia, mytrail etc) and mark these basic points and you will be required to reach any one or few of them: Entry and Exit Solar Park Al Qudra Desert Opp Bab Al Shams Mark long range playable dunes Mark pylon tracks, cycle tracks Mark as many sabka, flat track or easy exits in case of emergency Mark fencing or restricted area Mark technical dunes P.S. I will personally check each of your device to verify and help you further. Approximate Area Perimeter Level: Selected Advance and Above When: 31 Oct 2020, Saturday Meeting time: 6:00 AM, (Sharp, without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/Y4CCbDkHiWTv54nT8 Solar Park Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. Approximate finish time: 10:00 AM Please RSVP on the below calendar:

Current Waitlisted members: 1) Ahab Shamaa 2) Archibald Jurdi 3) Anvar Sedath Bekal 4) Vinojps

I have two sets. One of five round lamps on the roof, for extended light when driving alone or in front of the group with spot long range configuration, and three round lights on the front of the grill with flood configuration. When I need to light the road immediately in front of me I just use the one in the front. When I need to look further to navigate I use the one on top of the roof. And when I just want a lot of light I turn all the lights on, jajajaja

Current waitlist: @Kailas @Gok Krish @Athula Dharmadada @Yasas Dharmadasa @Piotr Kolodziej

I left the event on 29th afternoon

Cobrats @Jorge Stepniak Felippe

Congrats Jorge!! Thanks for introducing me to Carnity and hope to join you very soon so we can finally do our drives together!

Do such additional led lights or roof bar require special approval from RTA or police?

Thanks for all inputs! I'll go shopping for Toby's...

Hi @Alexander Alcala. You will be #1 on the WL. Will open up the drive again on Wednesday. Thanks a lot. Hello @Islam Soliman. You are #2 on the WL, waiting for the drive to reopen on Wednesday. Thanks Dear @Mohamed Seidam, you will be #3 on the WL, pending the reopening of the drive on Wednesday. Thanks Dear Desertnauts. It's time to build the expectation for this Thursday's drive. Better yet, drives. In fact, as mentioned in the post, this has been conceived as a marathon, to be executed in one whole day. Considering the diversity of the terrains, however, it has been divided into 2 parts: the first one from Lahbab to as close to Skydive as possible, and the second part, from Murqaab, across the Dubai-Al Ain highway, to the Qudra area (with Solar park as the minimum objective, and Qudra Parking the ideal finish point. The first part of this marathon will take us from the low, yellow dunes of Lahbab, through a technical area, to a string of red sand low bowls (very playable), and, time permitting, through a second technical area, all the way to the very nice open dunes stretching between Margham and Skydive. This area presents a couple of tricky, no-go, points, where driving it's forbidden, as marked by some "skull and bones" signs, near an oil and gas installation, and impeded by the endless metal fence surrounding one of the Royal Villas. These same "no-go" areas make this drive not so common among any other off-roading club, which is a plus for us at Carnity. We may share this terrain, if at all, only with locals, engaging in the art of falconeering, or herding camels. The second half of the drive, will see a change of terrain, starting on a yellow sand mix of technical and open dunes, then across a small sabkha leading to a sand track cutting across a very treacherous area of technical dunes, eventually ending at Lisaili's white sand long range dunes, stretching all the way to Solar Park, and to Qudra proper beyond. Given the variety of terrains, the driving skills required will be practically all inclusive: finesse driving, controlled straight crossing, side sloping, both low and high, as well as criss-crossing and occasional ridge riding (especially in Qudra). With this, I welcome to the drive @Kailas, @Gok Krish, @Hatim Patharia, @Piotr Kolodziej, @asifk, @VipinShetty, @topgear, @Pancho and @Foxtrot Oscar. More details to follow on Wednesday evening. Enjoy your short week.

Dear Desertnauts. It's time to build the expectation for this Thursday's drive. Better yet, drives. In fact, as mentioned in the post, this has been conceived as a marathon, to be executed in one whole day. Considering the diversity of the terrains, however, it has been divided into 2 parts: the first one from Lahbab to as close to Skydive as possible, and the second part, from Murqaab, across the Dubai-Al Ain highway, to the Qudra area (with Solar park as the minimum objective, and Qudra Parking the ideal finish point. The first part of this marathon will take us from the low, yellow dunes of Lahbab, through a technical area, to a string of red sand low bowls (very playable), and, time permitting, through a second technical area, all the way to the very nice open dunes stretching between Margham and Skydive. This area presents a couple of tricky, no-go, points, where driving it's forbidden, as marked by some "skull and bones" signs, near an oil and gas installation, and impeded by the endless metal fence surrounding one of the Royal Villas. These same "no-go" areas make this drive not so common among any other off-roading club, which is a plus for us at Carnity. We may share this terrain, if at all, only with locals, engaging in the art of falconeering, or herding camels. The second half of the drive, will see a change of terrain, starting on a yellow sand mix of technical and open dunes, then across a small sabkha leading to a sand track cutting across a very treacherous area of technical dunes, eventually ending at Lisaili's white sand long range dunes, stretching all the way to Solar Park, and to Qudra proper beyond. Given the variety of terrains, the driving skills required will be practically all inclusive: finesse driving, controlled straight crossing, side sloping, both low and high, as well as criss-crossing and occasional ridge riding (especially in Qudra). With this, I welcome to the drive @Javier Lucero, @Athula Dharmadada, @Anand Nataraj, @Abu Muhammad, @Senthil Kumar, @Yasas Dharmadasa, @RaYan E, @Alexander Alcala, @Tamas Hoffmann, @Sinol and @Foxtrot Oscar. More details to follow on Wednesday evening. Enjoy your short week.

If I recall correctly, the FJ has a roof rack that is slightly shifted to the back. I think that if you use that rack to set the lights, your roof will create a shadow that will prevent the bright on your Bonet......

To stop the hood reflection. You can always Matt black foil the top of your hood like the Camel Trophy Land Rover Discovery Series I

You can try the Toby shop in Deira near Naif market. The prices are a bit cheaper and when Toby Dragon Mart didn't have it in stock I could find it in Deira. The only issue is no parking.

I have two of these sideshooters on my front bumpers and they really help a lot when aimed at the corners. Dragon Mart has them from Toby's brand.

I would suggest to add one at a time and see how it performs. Start with the spot powerful LED bar near the headlights, then depending on how your visibility is in the night you can add more. First check where is the place to install this LED light bar. Then measure the width and buy the LED light bar. Toby's is a very good Chinese brand and they have a shop in Dragon mart. Both my LED light bars are from Toby and they are quite competitively priced compared to other bigger brands (which are also assembled in China).

Thank a lot @Chaitanya D and @Srikumar for your valuable input! I was actually thinking that the roof bar will serve both purposes (bout forward spot and sideway flood). I have seen some cars having this small "side shooters", and I thought it's more "looks" than functionality, but is seems they are good. It also seems that a led bar between the head lights is a very good investment. So maybe I go for all 3 positions... Any obvious garage that is dealing with this kind of work you would recommend..?

I use both the roof top LED bar as well as the one near the headlights, and both serve two different purpose. 1. The LED bar at the top is curved which is more of a spread light which helps see a bit on the left and right of the car especially when you are crisscrossing a dune, however the straight line visibility is limited. 2. The one in front of the headlight is a powerful spot LED bar which gives good straight visibility. If I had to choose one between the two, I would choose the spot LED bar any day because of the light intensity and the clear visibility of the track in front of you. I would recommend installing it near the headlights or just below as that is the best place to install without any reflections and you can direct the light in the right angle. Now, if you are installing near the front headlights, depending on the space availability you should look to install the most powerful spot LED light bar. Mine is a 32 inch spot LED light bar of 480W and my night vision has improved so significantly that I am no longer called a Day time Marshal (the old timers in the club would know what I mean) 😁. You can put smaller LED light bar beam as per the below image on the two sides (near your windscreen) that would give you a peripheral vision. This would be my recommended setup.

Hi @Christian Andras your points and concerns are completely valid. I used to have a double led bar mounted on the roof, but the wind noise was quite horrible and the reflection on the hood was also there but by pointing them a little bit upwards i was able to minimize that. From my opinion i have seen better results from a slightly smaller bar with latest LED technology mounted on the front grille.

With the tremendous increase in the number of COVID cases in the UAE, we all have to be responsible while off-roading. Failing to abide by any single precaution at any time during the drive, will result in an immediate ban from Carnity Off-road Club. ZERO TOLERANCE First offender - 1 Month Ban. Second offender - 3 Month Ban. Third offender - lifetime ban and report to authorities. COVID19 PRECAUTIONS 2.0 All Carnity off-road drives will be LIMITED to driving only: No Socializing and gathering allowed at any time. No break for taking photos, breakfast, smoking, etc. No exchanging of off-road or recovery gears. Wear a mask at all times, while outside your vehicle. For passengers restrictions, follow RTA or NCEMA guidelines. All passengers should be inside the car, at all times. Maintain a minimum of 2-meter social distance at all times. Sanitize your hands and recovery gear after use. PS1. If you and your passenger cannot sit inside your vehicle for 3-4 hours please DO NOT JOIN CARNITY DRIVES. PS2. A Member who has RSVP the drive is RESPONSIBLE and LIABLE for their passenger's compliance. PS3. The above precautions apply to everyone irrespective of their vaccination status or schedule. PS4. You can confidentially submit the photo of any offender by sending an email to [email protected]. How to comply Read the drive post before arriving at the meeting point, so that you know your convoy numbering and radio channel. Arrive at the meeting point and switch on your radio to the pre-set frequency of the drive. Stop your vehicle at least 10-20 meters away from each other. Deflate your tires, while wearing a mask, and then go back inside your car. All briefings will be done on the radio now, so pay full attention to a briefing for your own safety. After the briefing, fall in your convoy position just before the drive starts. While driving if you get stuck, announce on the radio and be inside your car at all times. Trip lead and/or support will guide you on the radio for self-recovery or tow-rope recovery. While there is a stuck or a refusal, everyone else supposed to be inside their car at all times. You can only take a bio-break during the drive, by requesting trip lead permission. Once the drive is over exit out to inflate by maintaining 10-20 meters distance from each other. While inflating, only the driver supposed to be out and with the face mask at all times. After the drive, you can talk on the radio for any feedback, suggestions or help you need.

As we have been respecting authorities guidance & Carnity COVID guidelines to resume desert drives with caution by keeping social distance and wearing mask at all times outside the vehicle Unfortunately few off-roaders have difficulty in understanding and abiding these guidelines. As published in the national newspaper of UAE, everyone need to understand that still there are no gatherings allowed and authorities are issuing fine for 10,000 AED for host and 5,000 AED for attendees. https://gulfnews.com/uae/health/people-caught-violating-covid-19-safety-instructions-prosecuted-1.1591381059748 If you spot anyone stepping out of the car not wearing a mask, please remind them on the radio immediately. As we all are in this together, so we all have to help each other to remind. Failing to abide below list of restriction will result in an immediate ban from Carnity Off-road Club: FIRST WARNING Minimum 1 month ban from joining any Carnity off-road Club drives. Written warning will be issued on your Carnity profile. SECOND WARNING Minimum 6 month ban from joining any Carnity off-road Club drives. Written warning will be issued on your Carnity profile. If you do not like these restrictions, please stay at home and do not join for any off-road drives. Every Carnity Off-road Club Member has to COMPLY WITH THESE COVID19 GUIDELINES FACE MASK IS MANDATORY, WHENEVER YOU STEP OUT - NO EXCUSES. LEARN TO CONFIGURE YOUR RADIO, before the drive. Nobody will teach you or exchange radios like before. Read the detailed instructions posted here - to configure. If you still cannot configure, ask on forum ahead of time. Click "TOTALLY AGREE" Emoji here before RSVP any drive or else trip lead will remove your name.

Thank you Gaurav, I am glad to join the Carnity offroad club. Looking forward to meet all the members .My name is Bassel, I am from Lebanon . I am driving Toyota Land Cruiser 2019 . I have previous experience , I have previous experience .Today , I removed the Lower part of the front spoiler . My car now from front and back sides hav the minimum required height .

Hi @Brette could you please add me to the waiting list?

Why not i will be happy to have you in the drive. I added you.

@Islam Soliman and @Nivin most likely you will get in as multiple spots are still open. Will confirm and add by tomorrow as per the new structure to allow max drivers to get on drives .

Sounds amazing Ale, would be great to accompany you through both parts of this journey if that is allowed. Can't wait!

But be aware most of the designs and especially side shooters ( flood type with 6LED and 6 small side led) are out of stock with Tobys. Winter and off road season has kicked in!

@Frederic Thanks for your inputs. I guess both reflection and noise is somewhat dependent on car type, size and mounting. I had another car before with roof lights, and the reflection was really a bad problem. I am just speculating that the FJ might be better in that sense, since the windsheild is more erect, and the bonet short. But then again, it's just me speculating, it would be good to hear from someone who has it... Same goes for noise - before buying the FJ, I was told the noise with the original roof rack on is very bad, but when I bought it, the previous owner removed the most front transverse bar, and there is no problematic noise... I also was thinking of a ledbar at the grill, but I have limited experience of driving off-road at night, is it not better to have the light higher up on the car?? What's your opinion?

Agree with @Rahimdad now we should be looking for the tools to spread such awareness .

Thank you both @Christian Andras for the query and @Frederic for the feedback as I was planning in the near future for such installation 👍

Hello @Islam Soliman. You'll be #1 on the WL. Thanks Hello @Jihad Hachem. You will be #2 on the WL. Thanks a lot.

Sand to Mountains: Mission accomplished - Trip Report What a pleasure to drive in a little known area, where the only tracks on the sand are those of local farmers (with their un-plated, left-side driving, miniature vehicles), and camels. Everything in this area, yet to be named (to which we refer as E611 to Al Ghail), is different from the usual off-roading spots in the rest of the UAE. The red sand provides the growing environment for bushes, creeping plants, lone trees and vegetables (as found in one large farm along the way), as well as being the stomping ground for big camel herds, and occasionally, goats. This is also an area where endless longitudinal (Saif) dunes can be found, separated from each other by thin sabkhas, and by at least 3 huge pans of absolutely flat, black soil, dotted with a few tall trees (perfect campgrounds). The final surprise of the drive is the small plateau of powdery red sand, nested between the Al Ghail Industrial Area and the abrupt beginning of the Hajar Mountains. Red sand meeting, finally, black rock. A beautiful sight. This is the terrain which we drove and explored, with a very strong Fewbie group, which behaved and performed like a more advanced group. In fact, this drive is deceitfully easy: a great deal of ground can be covered driving on existing tracks, which, however, lead to apparently simple, yet treacherous obstacles, where soft bowls, deep ruts, molasses-like dune tops, sudden drops and invisible steps, hide behind low small dunes, or innocent looking turns. The sense of complacency that the presence of abundant tracks and the beauty of the landscape breed, can easily turn into refusals, stucks and long delays. So, I must say, this group performed extremely well. Congratulations to all, @Rizwan Waheed, @Dagdag Sofiane, @Senthil Kumar, @Tero Vallas, @Tamas Hoffmann, @Rizwanm2, @Ilya Golubinsky, @Biju Abdul with particular thanks to @Islam Soliman for providing a sure-footed and well executed Second Lead, @asifk for anchoring and assisting the convoy, and @Wrangeld for lending his experience and knowledge in the Sweep position. Great thanks for working well together, while respecting Covid rules, at recovering the only stuck of the day, on that crest with mountain views, in the last stretch of the drive. Good team work. The drive ended after covering 61.7 Km in 4:24 hours (of which 3:02 moving), at a total average speed of 14 Km/h (20 Km/h while moving), and a cumulative climb of almost 1 Km (from the lowest altitude of -37m) See you all out there, soon.

Congrats @Gok Krish !!!

Well done @Gok Krish. As you can see, your enthusiastic participation in the drives has been promptly rewarded.

As per Toyota, 100k service includes Check installation of driver’s floor mat Inspect and adjust all fluid levels Inspect wiper blades Replace engine coolant Replace engine oil and oil filter Rotate tires Visually inspect brake linings/drums and brake pads/discs Additional Maintenance Items for Special Operating Conditions Driving on dirt roads or dusty roads: Inspect ball joints and dust covers Inspect drive shaft boots (4WD) Inspect engine air filter Inspect steering linkage and boots Lubricate propeller shaft Re-torque propeller shaft bolt Tighten nuts and bolts on chassis and body Driving while towing, using a car-top carrier, or heavy vehicle loading: Lubricate propeller shaft Re-torque propeller shaft bolt Tighten nuts and bolts on chassis and body

@Biju Abdul as mentioned by everyone driving without a skid plate is something not recommended. You can make an aftermarket one of 6 or 8mm of steel or aluminium. @Asif Hussain please advise. 10 mm is an overkill in my opinion. Make sure to cut some vents similar to your current skid plate. This is to allow the hot air from the engine bay to escape and helps prevent overheating.

Get 8 or 10mm skid plate. I will also do the same for my Xterra soon. It is required.