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Dear Desertnauts ! It has become time to meet new business challenges in another region and hence me and my family will be relocated out from UAE. Maybe this folder isn't recommended to use for these messages, but as there has been so numerous people, who I have met, I couldn't find any better locations either. It was evident from very first drive I joined that Carnity is safety minded, professionally lead community. It was pleasure to listen @Gaurav, @Frederic, @Ale Vallecchi,@Emmanuel, how drivings should be conducted. Since there has been so many more pros in leaders as well as among drivers, that I cannot list all you here. All I just want to say is huge thank you for all of you marshals & leaders and drivers & members I have been driving together. It has been a new hobby to me, which with all preparations has fulfilled my head with other issues than business on weekends. That is important to me, to be able to recharge. From here on I can again focus to aviation / competition aerobatics, which has been my passion since 10 year old kid. In other words when one lose something, one also gains something positive. All the best to you all Carnitiers & Desertnauts ! Enjoy UAE and drive safely ! Tero

Link for the amazing race recording, 70% of the drive got captured rest was covered by dust.

Thank you @Lakshmi Narasimhanat least I could see my car, thought I was the last one 😅

Thanks @Islam Solimanfor the incredible drive. Little delayed start was well compensated with extended drive thanks to both the adrenaline rushing 3 rounds of race and the fencing around the Solar park. You have taken us through side-sloping, criss crossing, patch of very soft sand, and loved the highlight of the day the never ending technical dunes. It was not at all an easy track for leading which reflected in the number refusals you had and in particular the area where you sink in to knee level. Special thanks @Islam Solimanfor the ultimate choice of racing back-to-back 3 rounds, with utmost safety which was the icing on the cake. Guess this would be the first in @Carnity history. @Darren Brooketoday you had only one struck and mostly you were recovering. I guess more the challenge thrown at you and with responsibility of second lead you exhibited the best drive. I hope you would have realized that. @Humayun Ghiasit was pleasure driving behind you. No surprise, I was always able to follow you with safe distance and also closely. I love technical drive and to my surprise today majority of the drive was technical and then I had no refusal or pop-out or over heating issues. My best drive till date. I missed your drive in the same track last week and I was able to compensate for that today. @Werno when ever I watched you in the mirror you were maintaining the safe distance consistently which was amazing. Great drive. @Goutam, @Ranjan Das, @JeromeFJ i belive you guys also did great drive as you guys were so silent. @Gaurav Soni I hope you enjoyed the race very much after joining the drive in the very last minute of the previous day. You just had a struck in a tricky soft churned-up patch which was recovered by Hisham. @Hisham Masaad amazing sweep making sure entire convoy stay put together and safe and thanks for the extraordinary demonstration of getting struck and self recovering in the very soft patch. Thanks to every one for joining today and the amazing flawless drive, patience and demonstrating collective team effort. Love to catchup with you all again soon in the “Middle of the Earth”

Dear @Tero Vallas. I wish you all the best for your new posting and endeavors. Surely all of us at the Club will miss your gentlemanly company. I am glad that, in any case, you will continue with your acrobatics, not on sand but in the air. Now you can return to fighting gravity 😅. Best of luck.

First time to Al Aweer area, and have to say i really enjoyed it!! Thanks @Ale Vallecchifor a really fun drive, which gave everyone a fantastic opportunity to repeatedly practice and finesse both their ridge riding and criss crossing skills later in the drive. Also thanks for trusting me at sweep for the first time, the occasional bit of digging and guiding off the ridge was all that was required, so well done everyone. Well done @Alain Canivet-Abikhalilfor another faultless performance at 2nd lead and @Nivinfor being a superb CF and of course the gentle tug off the final dune (so very nearly made it without a recovery). Definitely realising more and more that with the heavy Tahoe that I am asking for trouble if i don't find a clear path when the track is churned up ahead. Looking forward to the next drive and no doubt learning something else 🙏

@Islam Soliman thank you very much for the one of the unique drives. Despite the tough terrain and nature of the area, the cases we had, it was really enjoying. very one made his best. @Darren Brooke today I have seen the real meaning of SL, and I am sure you as well. @Lakshmi Narasimhan @Humayun Ghias @Werno @JeromeFJ @Gaurav Soni @Ranjan Das @Goutam thank you very much for joining and for the support shown by all for all. One more thanks for @Islam Soliman for the drive. See you more times in sand

No i was definitely last unless there was a handicap based on the car's age (and apparently the driver's age - according to @Islam Soliman) then i would have been first 🤣

What a smasher of a drive ... @Srikumaryou made it feel so easy for us, helped us to build some more finesse in handling the approaches with speed! I wanted to sleep after that before heading to Swehan drive but could not as there was a lot of adrenalin, dopamine etc etc mixed in in the blood! It is a drive to remember.

@Islam Soliman and @Srikumar thank you both for organizing and leading the convoys today. It was a fun drive, we managed to cover a good distance above 50 Km. Thanks to everyone else in Convoy 2, we had a good pace and managed to play in some areas in the route. Here is a short clip of a loop taken from the left side of Iftar bowl while following @Abu Muhammad and @Dodi Syahdar: Wish you all a good week ahead.

Will surely miss you @Tero Vallas.. was always fun driving with you.. wish you and your family all the best in your new endeavor..

Wishing you all the best @Tero Vallas ! Take care and keep flying safe !

Wish you and your family good luck @Tero Vallas for the new endeavors. Surely you will be missed, I guess mostly on Emmanuel's Extreme drive which has become your regular feature lately.

Good evening, It was a pleasure to meet and drive with you guys last night. The dunes were tall and humongous. Before sunset we were able to practice some long sides and criss-crossings. Seeing how each and every one was driving, I became confident to take the team to the famous Nagrah hill. Unfortunately we had to exit @Taufique Surve very early due to over heating issue. Throughout the drive we were able to drive with good pace. Towards nagrah side, we were continuously driving at high elevation. We had minimum refusals and didn't need any rope recovery. Well done guys.👍👌 @Mus_hus78 you did a fantastic job as SL. Very quick response when ever needed. @Gok Krish thank you for accompanying me to Sweihan and providing assistance and rerouting to the team. You handled CF role very well. @Zed @Hasan Wahlan @Farouq Owdeh you guys drove effortlessly like experts. Kudos to you👍 @Karthikeyan Govindarajan handled his heavy LC very well. I felt you were shy on gas at some places. @Xavier Treasurer was the lone wolf at the end sweeping everyone. Great sweep and I don't think you had any refusals👍 Stats from the drive Looking forward for more drives with you all. Kindly share the pictures taken on our gallery. Cheers!

@Roy Armale my experience is limited to driving manual with my Pajero. From what I am reading, i come to the following points: 1) every recovery should be in 4lo. Switch to low gear as soon as you find yourself stuck. Don’t even attempt in high gear as you’ll be burning your clutch very quickly. 2) 33 inch tyres are not gonna help you, that’s a fact. While they are still in good condition maybe consider selling them second hand. 3) Driving manual gear in the desert requires you to think about your momentum at all times. Mostly you’ll be driving in second gear and sometimes first. The trick is to know when to upshift or downshift. This will come with practice and practice and practice. To me it feels like you’re overthinking too much especially since you don’t have sand off-roading experience yet. 4) Don’t drive in low gear. You might get away with it for a while, but soon your transfer case internals will be overheating. Low gear is meant to recover and off-road very slowly (like rock crawling). Not for anything faster than 20kmh.

That was @Werno

Dear friends @Brette, @Veedooshee , @Ammar Naji @Clay Neddo, @Roy Armale , @Simon Ducos , @Paolo Pellegrini, @Alfred Alinazar, @Abdul Rafay-S , @Yawa, @Sunil Mathew, @Luc Khaldoun and @James Thorn yesterday’s drive by all means , at least for me , was the best treat to start such a beautiful day with and it was.actually yesterday I just turned 🎂... ( still young , but not younger 🤣) I believe the various earlier feedbacks and comments has said it all and not sure if there is something more to add. If it wouldn’t be for the last minute two drop out , I would say this could be the largest convoy ever I drove with . Adding to that we had a variety of vehicles in size , power and colors as well 😉from the lightest 3.5/3.6 SWB/LWB to the heaviest 5.7L LWB beasts having the later directly driving in front of me. Giving the ‘smart’ root selected by our lead and the diversity of difficulty all along from Khetem to Feya I would say and especially the back cars they have managed it to perfection for this drive . In many times I had to reposition my self to have a better visual to what is coming and honestly I was impressed . One point I would like to say that it’s always the driver who harness the power no matter how huge is it. Slowly slowly you will get better and better as you know your car capabilities more and more. Thank you @Brette for the amazing ride and lead as well as the patient teacher inside of you. Always pleasure driving with you @Veedooshee truly you were the perfect playmaker , the pleasure is all mine driving with you in team Carnity . Well done and your report was super 👍🙏 @Ammar Najii drove with you several times , thanks for being a perfect second lead and bringing your Expedition to top of feya was a treat to watch 😉 All the other Fellow Drivers each by his name thank you for coming to share the passion and for me it was really my birthday gift 🎁 yesterday 🙏 Have a great weak till next time cheers P.S : pictures in Gallery and relive post above in the drive post already posted . Enjoy 😉 Mohamed

Thank you @Islam Soliman for a saturday Fewbie plus drive! Loved the varied nature of the drive. Started the drive laughing out loud when Islam noted how messed up we all are in terms of reaching before the designated time in anticipation 🤣 It was incredible to experience such soft sand and to keep moving. The spot where they had dumped sand was quite crazy as you would sink almost to the knee! The drag race was quite a surprise and such a different feeling. Technical portions of the drive provided some very nice challenges as well! @Darren Brookethank you for the second lead and @Hisham Masaadfor your expertise always. Thank you to Gautam and the rest of the convoy as well. I still don't know who noticed my almost flat Tire on my patrol. Probably saved me from a pop out! Thank you for that and the quick onboard inflation by @Lakshmi Narasimhan Looking forward to the next adventure!

Dear @Tero Vallas, I'm saddened to know you'll be leaving us, but happy to read you'll have some other great passion to fill your weekends. I'll miss your quiet but sure and experienced driving at the back of the convoy. Good luck with your new professional challenges but most importantly with your passion of a lifetime: may it fill all your acrobatic weekends as much as @Carnity did. And if you ever come back to Dubai on a business or leisure trip, plan half a day off and give us a shout, so we can plan a drive to remember the good old times!

Thanks a lot @Brette for leading such an amazing drive, I liked the pace and the technicality of it. Moreover, the time spent in the play areas was also amazing, I got to experiment a bit with my car. @[email protected], Really nice to have you guys as support, your level of experience, provision of instructions in a calm manner and handling of stucks is what really got us through the day. Thank You! Happy Birthday Dr. @M.Seidam, Hope your special day went really well. Please be kind enough to accept this random picture of a camel on your car as a gift 🎁 😂😂😂.

Thx @Dodi Syahdar @Mario Cornejo @varunmehndiratta @marks @Abu Muhammad and @Nabil Bishara for the smooth drive and great support.. We went all the way from Shuwaib till Badayer shops going through the different terrain and key stopovers at Iftar and supper bowls and Badayer area.. smooth ride with moderate pace and few refusals quickly managed.. definitely an area and route I’d like to do more often. thanks all for the great drive and thanks @Mario Cornejo @marks and @Nabil Bishara for supporting the convoy.. special thanks to @Srikumarfor giving the chance for a second convoy and all the logistics in the background .. @Rob H I am sorry to hear about your car incident .. hope everything goes smooth with the repair.. I have been through the same in my 3rd Carnity drive .. can help with ideas for the repair if you want. c u all soon on the sand

Thank you @Srikumar for an exiting drive in shuwaib today morning. We enjoyed all the dig dunes with out any ploblem. It was rough start for @Rob H and airbag popout. Hope to see u stronger n better next time. Btw here is some video clips.

I recently passed my Xterra with the metal bumper and offroad lights and I thought i would share my experience so that others with modifications/considering modifications may learn from the same. I stuck masking tape around my offroad lights and I attached rubber pads on my metal bumper which made the truck compliant enough for passing. So people with similar modifications could try these steps.

@Veedooshee your calmness and ability to deliver prompt and useful instructions is a skill I want to learn from you. Thank you. Also, thanks a lot for posting this @M.Seidam because it brings up a very important conversation around a topic that @Brette and I had that day and think might benefit a few people: Gearing Ratios Apologies in advance for the long post. @Frederic your input would be very appreciated as a seasoned manual Wrangler driver To begin, I drive a manual 2014 JK (3.6L Pentastar) with the worst gear ratio (XXXXX Auto said it might be a 3.2) I bought it used 4 months ago with approximately 33 inch tires on it that I don't want to pay to change till they are worn out. This means that I am completely out of the "effective off-roading combination", see attached chart or this site: https://prodigyperformance.com/blog/jeep-wrangler-gear-ratio-calculator/ If you watch the video, you'll notice a lag between the first attempt (jolty, too much engine) and the last as I went into 4-Lo (smooth recovery) I know that recovery should happen in 4-Lo, no discussion there, but that affects a lot of other things. Look at how easily I was able to follow instructions when the power was "effective" rather jolt the car around. It also affects my clutch. @Veedooshee you might remember the smell of the clutch from my 4-Hi attempt. This gearing caused me to lose power several times when the convoy lost momentum in soft sand. I would have to switch to 4-Lo every time to get through areas that should be relatively easy. I never thought much of it because most my off-roading has been on rocks and I'm in 4-Lo for all that. When we got to the last area and went up the steep hill, the same loss of power happened during my first attempt. I did another attempt in 4-Lo and was able go further easily by starting in 3rd gear and moving up as I gathered speed. THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS OR CARS THAT HAS AUTOMATIC LOCKERS IN 4-LO. @Brette and I debated even trying, but I had read that it is ok on enough forums and we were relatively close to the road. I spoke to a few garages about re-gearing (which I think I will do) and a few told me not to re-gear, but to start off-roading in the sand on 4-Lo while using higher gears (4-6) instead of 4-Hi in lower gears (mostly 1and 2). Both options remove the strain from the clutch and enables better management of dune inclines and soft sand, but the second option takes much more attention to the drive-shaft. I am still of the opinion that I should re-gear. If you have reached the end of this post, thank you for your patience. If it is in the wrong place, I can move it to the Wrangler threads. However, I would appreciate any experience or feedback on the situation.

For sure you will be missed @Tero Vallas. Best of luck to u and the family in the new journey, take care.

Thanks so much dear Abdul Rafay for your wishes and kind words , the Camel is the symbol of the the desert and it’s on my head always 😉 , gift accepted 😄 BTW I watched your Driving , your handling and your approach was progressing to perfection and soon you will get it so fine , No Wonder “like father like son “ 👍🌷 Thank you Veedooshee so much 🙏🙏

Many many happy returns of the day Doc. Seidam... Enjoy ur special day...

Just want to say thanks for the drive last night to @Wrangeld and @Janarthan@Gaurav Soni@Anand Nataraj in support. Especially when my car went in to limp mode. Was fine on way home and seems perfectly normal today but obviously waiting to get it checked out before another drive! Thanks for the mini brainstorming to try get back to normal and the quick exit out 👍🏾

Wow same terrain, we all did same things - awesome bowls and steep climbs up the Super and Iftar bowl, yet such contrasting feedbacks across two Convoys... All n all, it was super fun, enjoyed it all thanks @Srikumar@Islam Soliman Feel like that irrespective of part of one convoy would have felt that missed the fun on other side ..and for that credit goes to the leaders of both Convoys. .cheers

There is no doubt @Srikumarthe drive was the most exciting one since joining @Carnity(as explained by abdelghani my son) we have enjoyed the area And the pace, as well as the level of convoy , where all showed their capabilites. Thank you again and all joined.

Convoy 1 : Trip Report After our quick morning greetings, at the break of dawn, Convoy 1 and 2 departed towards the huge bowls and dunes that Shuwaib has to offer. As we started scaling the first set of dunes, we heard the message on the radio that Rob's beast had a nose dive in one of the pockets. The impact seemed to have disturbed all the sensors along with a bit of bumper damage. After resetting the computer the sensors seemed to have been working properly as he was driving for next hour or so at a brisk pace through all the bowls and hills. As we reached approx the half way mark to Iftar Bowl, we reached a massive bowl which was begging to be ridden on. With the fantastic set of drivers and cars I took the adventurous route of exiting the bowl by crisscrossing on the top of the dune on to the other side. As all the cars were making it through, it brought a smile to my face till we saw Rob's car getting stuck on the slip face. It took a while for us to realise that his car had stalled and after a few moments of stalling the side airbags were deployed. It was the first time I have seen the side airbags getting deployed in a Japanese car. Probably the fact that it was a US Spec car could explain the cause. It again showed that regardless of the brand or origin of the car, it's best that the side airbags are always deactivated especially on higher level drives. With the seat belt tensioner also gone it was felt best that we exited Rob. It was a day where things didn't go exactly as per plan. As the weather was still bearable, the entire convoy felt that we could spend another hour in the desert. So we reentered at Super Bowl and we spent the next hour of one of the most intense fast paced drives that I have been a part of. As I kept pushing the pace, climbing higher the convoy responded beautifully in perfect sync. Among the chaos of multiple convoys in that area we found an opening that provided a smooth momentum to the top of both Super Bowl and later Iftar Bowl. It felt like all the other convoys had come to a standstill while our convoy was making an attempt. Brilliant driving by everyone @Rizwanm2 @Gok Krish @Goutam @Rob H @Hisham Masaad @Kailas Thank you for participating in this drive which I thoroughly enjoyed. Hope to catch up with you guys soon on another fast paced IM drive. Till then take care.

DRIVE REPORT Dear Desert Wanderers, I have always loved the Fossil Rock - Faya daytime drive, but I must say its night version exceeded by far my expectations. The whole convoy was extremely punctual at the meeting point at Khatam, so by 7:04 we were already in the sand. We immediately made our way up east, to reach the highest possible viewpoint from the rocky hillside of Fossil Rock, but once again our expectations to have a glance at a red sunset on red sand had were not satisfied, as the horizon was foggy (the great heat of the season doesn't help) and the sun had already disappeared. Climbing up didn't prove that easy: nasty bushes and tricky ridges, turning all of a sudden from round and fat into thin and sharp crests made very soon the first victim, @Darren Brooke who had to be winched down as there was no space for a proper rope tug. We then moved down, crossed the pylon track and ventured into the stretch of Khatam Desert on the east side of Fossil Rock. We made our way through a bushy area and found our next (one of many...) challenge of the day in steep climb that, with the churned sand and the unfortunate upshifting problem of earlier Pajero, forced @Danish Mohammad to give up after several attempts. After a quick reroute we could start again, only to stop a bit later to manage, one by one, with a few attempts, a daring criss crossing following a long side sloping inside a big bowl. Fun stuff, but not obvious to manage as it is difficult for everyone to build momentum to cross on top of a dune you can't really see: this is why, after the first struggles, I decided to lit up the way with my car lights, so the top ridge could be seen from below. As we moved further west, we reached the famous Long Dune, whose majestic lenght could only be guessed by a careful look at its shilouette against the dark blue sky. It was quite a view for me, once I turned around at the southern end of the dune, to see the lights of the convoy lighting up the long hillside. After having satisfied our side sloping ambitions for the evening, we quickly made our way to the top of Fossil Rock, where we had a regenerating break before throwing ourselves in the dark along the steep east side. What an adrenaline shot! When everyone made it to the bottom, since our timing was very good, we opted for a short digression to a very nice buch challenging area located on the east side of Fossil Rock requiring a very long ascent on soft sand. Climbing to the higher grounds, just below the rocky cap proved to be very difficult for everyone, so we split the convoy in small groups, so that each group could benefit of following the best line behind me. Almost everyone made it to the top, which was an amazing achievement. Those who struggled, @Darren Brooke, @Danish Mohammad and @Lakshmi Narasimhan, were limited mostly by the capability of their cars in the churned uphil sand. At this point we had quite a clear idea of the convoy's excellent capabilities, so, after cooling down @Lakshmi Narasimhan's transmission oil which had overheated during the many attempts made to climb up, kwe could head south heading full throttle into another great deal of challenges We reached the southern edge of Fossil Rock, climbed up the nearby 1st and 2nd rock, quickly reaching Camel Rock, where we took a 360 panoramic view of the imposing bright rock over the red sand. Night time driving is all but easy: one wants to be close to the car in front to have his way lit further ahead and a better idea of the line to follow, but he constantly ends up being too close as every driver tends to hesitate more in the dark, slowing down unespectedly. Also, when hesitating, one lifts the foot from the throttle and momentum is unavoidably lost. This explains the many refusals and the a couple of crested stucks by @Abdul Rahman AK and @Lakshmi Narasimhan, all promptly recovered with the precious help and radio guidance by @GauravSoni and @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ, perfect Center Forward and Sweep. Thanks to their support moving/stopped time ratio remained very favourable as we proceeded south, reaching Camel Rock first, then The Sphynx, both viewed with a complete 360. I won't forget the thrill of driving along the edge of the most eastern crest of dunes leading to Faya: on the right side we had the relatively reassuring dunes landscape, one the left a dark abyss, the sabkha at the bottom and the shilouette of the saw-toothed crest of rocky mountains in the distance. Reaching Faya from the north is everytime an inspiring crescendo. As my lights pointed high while crossing some dunes, I could have glimpses of the next tall dunes ahead, while we kept on riding one round ridge after an other. We played around a couple of huge bowls, climbing the back side of Faya, until we reached the last big bowl from where a daring criss crossing was needed to make it to the other side. To make it easier, I placed my car a few meters after the target criss-crossings point and radio guided everyone across. Big kudos to all, as this maneuver was definitely a very challenging one, as pushing full throttle into the absolute dark while criss crossing is definitely not something that comes natural! Once on the other side, we descended at the bottom of Faya's renown big dune, where everyone had their fair share of attempts to make it to the top. Congratulations to all those who succeed (included @GauravSoniand @Lakshmi Narasimhan, who decided to head back to try again after the drive end) but equally to those who didn't, as, once again, it was mostly their car who stopped them. By 11:35pm we were out on the tarmac. We drove for 4h 31', of which 3h 25' moving and 1h and 6' stopped, covering 48.6km at an average moving speed of 14.3km/h and an astounding descent of +562/-551m which tells a big story about how daring climbs and descents. Everyone did extremely well. I only had eyes on @Werno, a perfect, ice-cold, 2nd lead, not a single time in trouble, and on @RooRzOn, who handled his Y62 extremely well in all situations. Congratulations to everyone else: @Abdul Rahman AK (ouch, what a pocket you hit!), @Darren Brooke (the right distance at night will come with practice) @JeromeFJ (week done not hesitating on your @Lakshmi Narasimhan (4h 30' drive were not enough for you 😂) @Danish Mohammad (hard time with your Pajero's upshifting problem) and @Russ (2nd last in the convoy without any problems!). Great thanks to @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ and @GauravSonifor their great help. See you soon in the dark again!

UPDATE. We experimented on last IM drive with @Ale Vallecchi and the temperatures were kept normal which shows our technique worked. Bonus point was we could drive all the time with AC on with good cooling in the desert heat.

Love the masking tape idea. Simply GENIUS. Many including myself have got the custom cover for lights made for passing purposes only.

all the best for your future endeavors . we will definitely miss your calm and compose but extreme driving skills.

Hey @Thomas Varghese, What’s your phone number? i have a friend with an XTerra who’s having overheating issues as well… Oh, and thanks for the cool picture you took of my car on our last drive. It is now my profile picture 😀

Some nice sidys

Eagerly watching this thread, for any possibility of a slot in this ride.. Tough luck probably 😄🤞🤞

Sure Gaurav.. pls add yourself to the RSVP and c u tomorrow

@Islam Soliman is it too late to join the drive…?? Can I join this drive?

It was another interesting drive today. Thanks @Brette for leading the team. It was my first time to climb the high dune today. Might need to try another 10 times more next time to get better 😀 @Veedooshee, thanks for the wonderful report and encouraging me to try the high dune. May need to learn more about the Pajero trick from you later. Dr. @M.Seidam, nice to have you watching and sweeping us from the back today. Have a nice weekend to you all. See you again on the next drives

Thank you @Veedoosheefor the excellent trip report. Well done. Khatam has some nice small dunes that have patches of really soft sand in between them and negotiating that has turned out to be a bit tricky for newbies in the past but the convoy today did really well with just a few refusals. We headed first towards the Maliha play area where we did a few low sideys mainly for the first time drivers to practice a bit. Once we moved out from the play area, we found ourselves surrounded by very bushy terrain where we had to keep the pace really slow and negotiate some steep descents to get back towards the tracks. Truly impressed with the way everyone handled that area, especially @Luc Khaldoun and @James Thorn since both of you drive beasts. Once on the flat, we back tracked a bit to get around all the vegetation and then headed to Camel Rock and then to Faya where we spent the last 45 minutes and everyone got to practice a few sideys or climbs depending on how many drives they have already done. Thank you @Ammar Najifor being the perfect 2nd lead , @Veedooshee and Doc, @M.Seidam for the exceptional support and everyone else for being a great convoy. Well done everyone and look forward to driving with all of you again.

Thank you guys for this exciting drive! Special thanks for @Asif Hussainfor leading the convoy, saving the day and temp fixing my car.

Thanks a lot for the drive lead @Brette and for the great advice throughout @M.Seidam. @Veedooshee thank you for the report, but mostly for the support when I was stuck the many times and for everyone's patience while it happened! Learned a lot on this drive, including what "not" to do on etiquette from our uninvited guests on the ride, as well as a lot about my car and the clutch/power situation at lower speeds. @Brette can you remind me who are the manual (stick shift) wrangler drivers so that I mention them in the thread we talked about relating to the gearing and 4Hi Vs Low for the hill climbs? @Clay Neddo good to see you again, @Paolo Pellegrini thanks for the patience being behind me, and @Simon Ducos I'll send you a few videos I got of you since I was chasing you. Best, Roy

Many thanks @Lorenzo Candelpergher for this exciting drive ! In some occasions it was a bit daring to push full throttle in the dark reaching a high ridge, but your calm guidance on the radio was helping us to do so in confidence. Thank you to all the convoy, in particular @Gaurav Soni and @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ for the support. ... and yes, it was a moon drive 😀

Disclaimer - most of my information is gathered by reading from the xterra forums www.newx.org and the tons of discussions on the xterra group in Dubai. I felt the crux being for off road models, the stiffer Bilstein 5100 is good enough sans the lift . 2 to 2.5 inch lift (not with spacer to level but with stiffer coil struts in front and leafs at back) would be useful 1. For better off road clearance 2. Slightly better performance off road with better suspension travels Yes the COG is affected , and hence it can be negated to some extent with 35 to 38 mm spacers . (Within the RTA allowed limits which I believe is upto 2 inches . Anything more and your car might not pass the annual clearing). Other option being to go for more expensive offset rims which are again like finding hens teeth, very limited options. Spacers cause rubbing of your wheels against the inner wheel liner , which needs a "melt mod" . Basically pushing in the bumpy plastic liner parts after softening with a heat gun. Only if you go for a tire upsize (potentially decreasing the power you need on sand)you will need more adjustments in terms of fender cuts and bumper cuts. Another minor issue being the long travel would potentially cause hitting at the top, which can be minimised by changing the bump stops on LCA to a thicker ones .Change the X bump stops to the FJ ones. X has a very thin one compared to the FJ As in pic below Why there is so much confusion with the lifts/suspension on X (especially in Dubai) is 1. Options available are limited unlike the jeeps or FJ - few actually understand the correct mechanics involved and the adjustments to be made. 2. Wierd placement options for the oil reservoirs (if you opt for ones with remote reservoirs which are a bit more expensive ) , which may not serve the optimal function as intended to be or claimed . 3. Bilstein 5100 stock on off road models is good enough for abuse , and pretty pocket friendly. 4. Rear sway bar rubs against thicker shocks when you change them to stiffer (thick ) ones .(controversial - different opinions) 5. With stiffer lifts - and off road revving engine /gear mounts are prone to break more frequently - which are inherently bit weaker in the X (controversial- different opinions). 6. With stiffer leafs at the back combined with stiffer shocks you will need angle correction shims - else you will have vibrations at higher speeds. More info below https://www.thenewx.org/threads/what-angle-shims-shackle-question.183561/# 7. Stiffer struts at the front tend to squeak probably due to sand sticking in some washers /bushes , so potentially both front and back could squeak. Not sure if this happens with all brands. And hence you will need a music system upgrade to better speakers, amp etc etc to nullify it🤣🤣. 8. Widening the stance with spacers or offset rims potentially reduces the wheel bearing life span causing them to wear and tear at a faster rate than stock. 1 to 8 is as much I understood reading all the information available, but since I am not an expert i would like to improve on that if there is anything more clear. I hope you could find an answer, or now have more questions 🤣🤣🤣

Here is the easiest, fastest and safest way to fix a tyre pop out in less than 5 minutes: Tools required: Wooden plank/Jack board/plate Hydraulic Scissors Jack Air Compressor Shovel Water Steps involved: Move the vehicle "VERY SLOWLY" to flat ground. If you do it fast, then the inner (behind the tire) seam will also come out and make the pop out repair more difficult and sometimes impossible. Find a good jacking point and place a big wooden plank just under it - on perfectly flat ground. You can move the board a few times to flatten the sand so that jack sits on the flat ground. Place the jack on the board safely and lift the jack, just enough to regain the tire shape and then dig little under the tire. If you lift too much, then chances of tipping the jack are higher. Clean the open seam properly with water, run the fingers inside to make sure no sand is sticking inside the tire as that will leak the air while inflating. Inflate the tire with the air compressor and hold the open seam outward with little strength. Don't shake or use too much strength as jack might tip. When seam starts sitting in place, you will hear a loud/soft pop that means tire seam has been properly seated in its place and you can drive back normal. SAFETY WARNINGS: If you have a jack stand, use it under the axle. If you have a spare jack use it under the axle for safety. While the vehicle is lifted with jack, avoid any jittery move like slamming the door, closing the hood, getting in or out the car, this might cause jack to tip and cause serious injuries. While the vehicle is lifted with jack, NEVER EVER put your head, hand, legs or any body part under the car or under the tire. You can fix the tire from the side as shown in the picture above.