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Some quick reflections on being reminded that deliberate technique is key to confidence… Recently I changed my Jeep’s suspension setup from the Teraflex Falcon 3.3 system to King 2.5 shocks, tuned specifically for offroad driving. Objectively the vehicle now handles better. The damping is firmer and more controlled, the Jeep feels more planted and precise, and the overall composure is improved. The vehicle also sits slightly taller. What surprised me though was that my confidence in my offroad driving initially reduced…! 🤦🏻‍♂️ Not because the setup is worse…quite the opposite. But because the vehicle now reacts differently, particularly when crossing ridgelines and during side-sloping transitions. The roll, settling and weight transfer characteristics have changed enough that I have had to recalibrate what “normal” feels like. It has been a good reminder that offroad driving is a continual learning process. Even experienced drivers can become subconsciously tuned to how their vehicle behaves, and when that behaviour changes, confidence takes time to rebuild. More importantly, and the main thing I want to share, is that it reinforced that the fundamentals are what matter. For example in Carnity we teach drivers to approach ridges at a deliberate angle, let the vehicle settle, then steer off the ridge smoothly while maintaining appropriate speed and momentum throughout the manoeuvre. Those techniques will always work, even when the car behaves differently from what I expected or I am used to The answer is not aggressive corrections or forcing confidence. It is to slow down mentally, trust the fundamentals, apply deliberate inputs, and allow yourself time to adapt to the vehicle’s new behaviour. Capability modifications can improve the car, but confidence still comes from understanding, repetition and disciplined technique. Still learning…

The coffee club drive is one of those drives that can't be explained, only felt by the ones who shows up for it. Driving all the way from SHJ to AUD 2.5 hours one way might be crazy to anyone outside of it but for me it's the desert at night, empty roads, coffee and the people who make the drive worth it. Thanks @Luke K P for the lead and the support team @ChrisW @Jose Luis Campos @Aser and the rest of team as well. @Myrko @Ash S. See you all soon in the next drive!

Always looking forward to these coffee club drives . The perfect mid week break . Thx @Luke K P and support team

Next time we meet you need to try to find springs on the front of my car buddy 😆 There is none....

Fantastic write-up @ChrisW and something i have been going through myself with the Trooper. In the early days i had the car, it felt planted and behaved quite well in the sand, but since i moved from 33 to 32 inch tires, and installed a winch in the front, something started to feel off. The car would nose-dive and bounce a lot but i could not immediately find a root cause. I started to experiment with a few different models of shocks. There are not so many options available but i think by now i've gone through 3 or 4 different models, even adjustable ones, and still could not get the predictability on ridges my Pajero used to have. Now recently i've upgraded the torsion bars from OEM to Ironman Heavy Duty and finally i am getting back to a somewhat normal behavior. Now also Bilstein shocks entered the game (basic model) and the progressive dampening is helping the front to settle a bit. I made a few mistakes from spending time on US forums about Isuzu Trooper, where the majority of these people set them up for crawling or overlanding, and choose very stiff shocks (KYB Monomax came as recommended). This did not work well for me. Long story short, the way we are in tune with our vehicles is key, and whenever something changes we need to adjust our senses and listen to what the car is telling us. This might mean doing some lower level drives, or the exact opposite. Whatever works for you. I've been lucky to be able to drive and test different offroad vehicles over the years and they all feel different. In the club we always encourage people to learn by using their stock suspension, and i still stand by that statement, but the amount of vegetation has forced many of us to look for better shocks. Either this or visit the chiropractor every week

What a night! We kicked things off right on time at 8PM with a proper warm-up session, giving everyone a chance to settle into the rhythm and get comfortable with the soft conditions. By 8:30PM we picked up @Ash S. and pushed deeper into the big dunes where the real fun began. The desert treated us to beautifully fresh terrain, with untouched lines in most areas and very little previous track activity. The sand was definitely soft as expected, but the convoy handled it brilliantly. We had only one or two minor refusals throughout the night, all managed quickly and smoothly by the team without breaking the flow. The convoy movement was excellent from start to finish, especially considering the fast pace we maintained across some very large terrain. @ChrisW did an outstanding job finessing my lines throughout the drive, helping keep the momentum smooth and controlled, while @Jose Luis Campos and @Aser worked to assist with refusals and keep everyone moving efficiently. @Myrko @Infaz @Ash S. Really spectacular driving and great control in the dark tonight 👏 To top it all off, we wrapped up the night with karak and coffee — the perfect finish after an energetic drive. The spicy ginger flavour was absolutely the icing on the cake! See you on the next one 🙏

WELL THERES YOUR PROBLEM! 😎

@Zubail I went for the remote reservoir adjustable shocks. These were tuned initially by the garage (specific shims and valving setup inside the shock), and then you can use the red valve to choose how many clicks towards firm or soft you want. …also, a small edit to add…none of these mods are necessary for Carnity drives! The other part of this hobby I enjoy is messing around with the technology and mechanics…so this side of things is more for the sake of it than out of necessity.

Kings.... my expedition also wants kings.. 182a and 183a... 😁 Every car is a different beast, and ing the most Important part is changing the behavior of the whole vehicle. Thanks for taking the time to remind us of this 🤝

Hello Fred, sure i can share some comments, more focus in the normal use of the car, as is my daily car, than related the offroad skills, as my experience off road is quite limited. Pros: Price Space and equipment. Cheap maintenance. No issues till date 30K Km. Capable off road, more than the owner 🙃. Suspension's compatible with Jeep & many gadgets and tunning options. Cons: Heavy on fuel. Gearbox not very smooth. Limited workshops available. Suspension not smooth out of the desert. Small delays in the gearbox, specially in manual mode. Not very powerful, mandatory to play in the turbo blowing window for funny moments. All in all, the car makes the job decently, on and off road. I am quite happy despite the cons..... for the moment. Hope this briefing helps to someone who is thinking to buy one, in any case do not hesitate to ask for more particular questions if is the case. See you!

Managed to fix up and remove the visit into the ocean from the GPS Spoofing which started towards the end of the drive. We covered about 50km which is good in only two hours! As you can see, we have SO MUCH MORE of Khatim to explore! (This was the initial recorded track)

Hy guys I’m here but I see nobody👀

Bring your helicopter:

I had the same with changing the bumper 😄 Funny thing, once I installed roof rack, it little bit balanced bumper, and even last time on Big Red it was not that much nose diping! but still I want Kings 😆 maybe @ChrisW will recommend some shop for it )))

extra weight in front of front axle = you should look at heavy duty SPRINGS. you need to restore the front of the car to the unloaded 'factory' height position as rest. shocks will be nice for damping impacts, but the heavier duty springs will control the load and the bounce effect to bring it back to 'factory spec'. Amazing how little weight change hanging over the front bumper will change characteristics.

Great write up @Chema - thank you for sharing. It’s been great to see some new brands arriving on the sand. Having a variety of cars available to us is always good. I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as a 100% dune driving car, there will always be some area of advantage and compromise. Sounds like the 212 is nicely balanced however!