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Dear desert wanders RSVP is now closed for this drive. @Emanuel, @Victor Socaciu, @RiadJL, @J-P L, @Gary F, @Faraz94, @Cristian, @Shaun J, @Mahesh_, @Nizar Shawwa, @topgear, @Marek and @Looper, the convoy order for tomorrow's adventures will be as below. We will use CH4 446.081 for this drive. I look forward to seeing you all bright eyed and bushy tailed at 06:00 deflated flags up and ready for the briefing

@Marek from my personal experience it’s purely based on preference. My adjustable shocks are very straight forward and just adjust stiffness, whereas depending on the type you go for, may have more settings and different knobs that slightly change your experience + handling. based on trial and error I tackle my stiffness settings purely on the environment however doesn't change much. For reference my shocks have got 20 stiffness settings. For rear (as per long base) I usually adjust these to 15 or 17 (these minor adjustments vary on level of drive + weight in the rear or if there was rain the previous day ‘I would decrease’, so with gear and passengers I may go as high as 18 in optimal weather conditions) for the front shocks I don’t change the number variable much and I’ve personally found 13-15 is the sweet spot. keep in mind changing your shock stiffness will massively affect your on road handling and most importantly your offroad handling I highlight this because your vehicle will also experience a slightly different weight transfer which could be uncomfortable at first, or may even influence loss of control. my final point would be avoid maxing your shocks straight away keep them around a medium setting until you get comfortable, experiment and when something doesn't work out try a different setting again. If you do however max your shocks remember while your shocks are absorbing more energy they may be even putting more wear and tear on other components. (I’ve set my shocks too high before and instead of absorbing the energy the shocks felt solid sending energy throughout the body)

Start with medium (10) in front and back, and work your way up/down as per your drive style and terrain. Finding one sweet spot takes some time and few off-road drives, so observe change to act accordingly. Also give one setting at least few hours of drive time, so you can justify the next change better. Don't tweak them in minutes, as then you will never find sweet spot and keep wandering around.

Guys having adjustable suspension: how do you select your drive settings when going on a fewbie desert drive where most of the time you are just cruising below 30km/h? I have seen a few times guys (and our leads) adjusting their shocks to the max stiffness when deflating tires (on coilovers with damping settings). How do you guys set it up? I did a few drives with different setup (max, min, couple in-between), and so far I lean towards as soft drive as possible unless the crew I am chasing is raptors and ranges and they plan on doing full baja cruise over flat lands.... But then the minute I dive into the ditches with max stiffness setup, there it's like getting into soft sand - you never know when it would dive in and get stuck. While when it was softer (20/30% of the scale), the ride is just smooth as butter and predictable (and spectacular as well, when you look at the recording of how nicely it picks up all the uneven terrain at medium speed). what's the general consensus for this? How would you set your suspension going on a technical drive with @Looper or @DP1011 vs going on a vertical hill climb with @Ale Vallecchi ?

I went to Jabal Yanas last week just to found out that the trail is permanently closed. Any other mountain trails you could recommend instead? On the way back I managed to find a route that blew my mind, so the trip wasn't a complete waste. Not sure if it has a name as the map was showing nothing. Accessible via old quarry site. Very demanding, but a stock Pajero made it, so I expect it's not as hardcore as I originally thought. \ And it's not a thru-and-thru type of drive, so many will disregard it. In my case - going both up and down was extremely pleasant and worth doing... Some snapshots for those who like less sandy and more "mountain'y" areas!

Hi @Ale Vallecchi..squeeze me in too, if its not too late to join

Dear Desertnauts, a quick briefing about tomorrow's drive. We'll meet just off to the right of the Sweihan-Al Ain Rd., opposite one of the usual meeting spots for drives aimed at Nagrah, Nahil, etc. This is Sweihan's south/western sector. We'll follow the line drawn on the map by successive bowls, until we eventually may loop back to the highway, in case we make very good time, or take a turn toward the Tilal Resort. Nothing has been planned with regard to this, but of any of you would like to stop for a drik at the idyllic resort overlooking the dunes, we can do that just about after sunset. The convoy's order is the following: @Aser in Second Lead @Andrew John Melvill at #3 @Giacomo at #4 @Gurcharan Mehta at #5 @nithish468 at #6, and @munkybizness at #7. Kindly refuel at Sweihan's ADNOC station. See you all tomorrow.

@Marek mine is not adjustable. It is Jeep Branded Fox 2.0s

@Marek looks like a great drive, will have to give it a try soon.