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@Mark B, you also have to take into account what your needs are. Beadlocks we’re designed for rock crawlers so they could air down large tyres (35s) so they could wrap around larger rocks and boulders and increase surface area and use the sidewall. Rock crawlers also go very slow. They are torque drivers. Then there’s dune bashing where if you get to a certain extreme level, a beadlock will give you that same peace of mind that your vehicle can air down and not pop out as you tumble from ridge to ridge, bumps and all. This is why you’ll also see Baja drivers use them. But, if you look at the Dakar rally which is the pinnacle of endurance that crosses many terrains, you’ll see that almost no teams use beadlocks. This is because, you can’t fix a beadlock on the go. Endurance and overlanders would rather have a forged and heavy load tyre that can be beaded on the go. They worry less about pop outs because a non-beadlock will enable them to fix it easily. Put it up on a jack, seat, air up, air down, go. So, I would look at your driving use case and where you intend to draw out the performance. If you’re planning to do high speed desert driving or rock crawling, a beadlock will give you peace of mind and allow you to air down without debeading if you suddenly land with too much impact. On the other hand, if you are planning to do long distance travel and want endurance and ease of operability, then a forged off-road rim that is load rated for your rig is the way to go.

Yes, they are totally worth it if you intend to drive like a rally champion (time of the essence) where you fight gravity extensively at 10 PSI or take the hairpin bend at 100 kmph speed - all the time. For regular leisure and fun off-road drive, beadlocks are really not needed. If you are happily in sync with your tire's lowest pressure (depending on your tire + car weight + your driving style), then you can simply ignore the occasional pop-out (once in 3-6 months). These accidental, situational, occasional pop-out happen to all of us. If you have a frequent pop-out then first you need to find the sweet spot of your tire's lowest pressure vs your driving style by bumping or reducing 1 PSI on each drive and then settle with that for the long run.

The meeting point has been updated. Seeing the strength of the convoy I have taken the liberty to experiment on the route and the starting point.

Hi All just wondering your opinion on beadlocks, and are they worth it? any experience? Also is there any issue with RTA and I know in parts of the US they are not road legal for example thanks for the advice mark

I think they are worth it 😇 … peace of mind during my solo drives. Maintenance is not as hard, I check and tighten the beadlocks from time to time on my own with a torque wrench, and no issues when renewing the registration. Just my experience so far Cheers!

Hi @CasperPL, i can see in your profile that you have a 2006 pathfinder which by itself is a great car ( I believe with the same 4.0 V6, not sure if there is a diff lock option). Just the diff lock is not a deal breaker if you are thinking so - as long as you are driving with a group. I suppose you can prep your present car itself which can easily meet your needs for off roading. Unless there is something major which might be super expensive. Members here have driven on all levels with this car As a Xterra owner myself - two of them - it is a great car which will never fail you and over time you learn how to play around to at least get out of desert in any issue, but getting proper parts - especially OEM/genuine is a bit of wait /pain at times. This might be an issue with all other older model cars. Another advantage with the xterra is there is a amazing support group of xterra owners available here with tons of advise.

Difficult to tell with all the rattle and shaking in my in my car Jokes apart - I have not experienced this scenario, what can happen though is like with any other wheel you can bend parts of it, in a beadlock wheel notably the outer rim is usually prone to it. Other issues I’ve heard about are finding a jammed bolt, but this is something you can mitigate through proper maintenance, for example when assembling the wheels the first time, and every time you service them, request to apply anti seize lubricant to the bolts, Coppaslip or Loctite copper grease are examples …I carry my own in case the garage has run out of it and I also make sure they use a torque wrench, at the recommended torque setting for the wheel, instead of using a power tool.

That’s some great feedback mate appreciate that, I’m not really planning on hard core driving just the weekend drive, and to date I’ve only had one pop out and have all the equipment to fix the issue, plus I changed my driving style so I don’t corner as hard anymore. but really appreciate your feedback Thank you Garuav, I think you right, maybe not needed for the type of driving I’m doing Really didn’t think of the repair on the go side of things it’s a very good point,

@Zed @Salim Akhtar i see that your Waitlist is now no more on the Drive.

Thank you @Davie Chasefor allowing me to join 🤩🤩🌻🌻

@Frederic left some great points @CasperPL As most points have been met I’m not going to regurgitate everything that has been said. my advice is to continue to check dubizzle and Facebook marketplace for the car your going to settle with. But most of all the most important thing you’ve got to do when looking at used cars is to check the VIN number every car has one it’ll essentially tell you any accidents the car has been in and where. This is especially the case when buying a car from America or even Sharjah. You’d be surprised how good some of these cars look but underneath are barely holding together 😂

Hi @CasperPLfor that budget you would find the following: 1. 2008-2010 Nissan Xterra 2. 2006 Jeep Wrangler TJ 3. 2008 Jeep Wrangler JK with the 3.8 Engine I have put the Nissan Xterra on top because it's a great on-road and off-road vehicle with plenty of boot space, and performs better than the Jeeps of this era and budget. The 4.0 engine is very powerful. The Jeep TJ is very powerful as well, but i would not recommend to use this as on-road vehicle. The Jeep JK with the 3.8 engine is not bad as well, but you will have a hard time finding a clean one, and the performance is not on par with an Xterra (and not as reliable). You will find Xterra for around 18-20kAED for the 2008 model, but to get it ready for the desert you will need to consider the following checkups: * Plugs and coils * Air filter and cabin filter * Throttle body clean * PCV valve * Clean the MAF sensor * Brake Fluids * Check exhaust system for leaks / cracks * Verify if catalytic converters are still installed. * Drive shaft u-joints * Boots on cv joints and grease * front body mounts * Engine mounts * transmission mounts * steering links and sway bars * front diff bushings * LCA UCA ball joints and leaf bushings * radiator and coolant hoses condition * Replace all fluids (engine, transmission, transfer case, differentials, coolant) I recently purchased a 2008 Xterra which had a good engine and tranmission, but spent a lot of money getting it to the condition that i wanted, which included replacing almost all hoses, bushings, all shocks, engine and transmission mounts, etc... After that add a front skid plate, replaced the weak OEM tow points with reinforced ones, installed a flag holder and you are good to go ! If you are still reading at this point and did not run away, you probably have seen by now that with your budget of 25k it will be a bit tight to get the car 100% offroad ready. I ended up spending a lot more unfortunately, but you can be lucky to find one for 25k that was well maintained. Sourcing spare parts in the used market in Sharjah is also an option but i personally preferred all new OEM parts. (cry once...) PS The offroad version would be great to have as it has rear locking differentials. But i've heard from many Xterra owners that the rear differentials cannot be found in the market secondhand (very rare) so if you need to replace the rear diff in the future that might be a big issue. There are plenty of Xterra owners here and will happily pitch in to help further ! Dubizzle and other online car sites will probably be the best source. I would avoid buying an Xterra that has been modified too much. There are still stock models for sale that haven’t seen a lot of off-road abuse. That’s the one you need.

@Simon D I removed your from RSVP as going and added you into the manage Tab 👍 this allowed @Patrick to move into the RSVP as going from the waitlist

Hello everyone! I have sold my previous Pathfinder and decided to find myself something more suitable for the sand. After reading lost of threads and articles I limited my choice to Xterra and Wrangler. The budget I set up for the car is 25k and I'm planning to use the car on the road as well. What are your thoughts? Do you know any specific places I could find some good offers? Or maybe you or someone you know is selling the car? If yes, then please give me a shout!

Awesome area @Srikumar been there couple of months back and found almost all vergin dunes. See you tomorrow.

It will not go higher i believe.😜

Hi. Recently joined the Carnity Club. Looking forward for some really good off road experience. Quick qn. I only have a very basic experience in off road driving and running thorough the chats actually made me feel whether I am allowed to go for tomorrow's night drive for newbies.

Should be already removed.

No issue , hope your car is fixed up well for the next one Sorry to know, please remove your rsvp

Hello @CasperPL I was in the market for quite sometime to get a 4x4 that was more of an off roader than my Infiniti QX. I had wrangler, FJ and Xterra in mind. They were finalized as these cars have been tried and tested in the desert and they have huge online communities to help with mods, repairs, questions etc. My budget was 25K for the car and 5K to get it desert ready (maintenance, skid plates, bushings etc) After 3 months of researching and test driving, the below was my analysis. Please note It's my personal opinion only and not some expert recommendation based on technical research. Wrangler: Great car for the desert. Market is overloaded with used jeeps within the budget mentioned above. Finding a clean stock one was just impossible. Even the advertised "clean, lady driven" ones had leaks and overheating issues. Reliability isn't their main forte. I have seen almost new jeeps failing in the desert and we couldn't figure out the issue and fix it. Based on my research, many jeep owners complained of leaks, over heating and transmission issues. Took it off my list due to long term peace of mind. FJ: One of the best cars for the desert. It's rare to find any desert drive without an FJ in the convoy. That shows how good and reliable these cars are, for dune bashing. Hard to find GCC FJs in decent condition within 30K aed. In this budget, mostly you will find US spec, 300k+ ODO or heavily abused cars. With difflock, crawl control, a trac and 2 fuel tanks (In most of the models), you have a desert ready car in stock condition. Reliability is gold standard and you wont have any issues if its maintained periodically. Spares are aplenty and labour is cheap as well. Only con is would say is visibility from the drivers seat but that doesn't seem to put off many happy FJ owners. Took it off my list as a clean one was above my budget. Xterra: One of the few budget friendly offroad cars which is reliable with great performance as well. Market is flooded with used Xterras but finding a clean one takes time but not that hard. I test drove 20 xterras before buying mine. Again, try to get one in stock that hasn't been abused before. They are available, we need to look hard. Pros: Performance - the torquey 4.0 V6 is good for 260 HP in stock which is more than enough even for intermediate drives. Reliability - It takes a lot of work to destroy this car mechanically. Even so, spares and labour are cheap. Yes, sometimes spares aren't available in nissan spare parts but we can get genuine spares within a day. If not, sajja is loaded with xterra parts. The offroad model comes with rear difflock and a slightly better suspension. TBH, mine is an offroad model but I have hardly used the difflock twice in 20 drives. Visibility is decent. The car can be abused to a certain extent as compared to American makes. Do note that you will find models with 200K+ on the ODO under 20K aed, but as long as its maintained well, it is safe to buy them and make them roar for another 100K kms. I bought my Xterra from a marshall and it was already modified and was certainly abused, however, the engine still purrs like a cat on highways and roars when climbing dunes. Also, some pre 2009 models were affected by SMOD (Google: Xterra + SMOD) but I haven't heard this issue from Xterra owners in the GCC. As always, whichever car you buy, check for off road abuse and try to get a stock one as much as possible. The offroad season is almost over, so don't go by the price on dubizzle/fb marketplace, you can negotiate and reduce the price by ~30% from the listed price. If you need any additional info on Xterra, please share here!

The system does acceptance if there are available slots after Wednesday deadline is finished. You can just waitlist on this drive once again.

@GauravSoni I had waitlisted myself for @Srikumar’s night drive on Friday. I will opt the drive which goes through for me.

Dear @CasperPL im another happy xterra owner. i got mine about 3 years back. i got it from sharjah car market. it was zero accident super clean car. yes its hard to believe. apart from dubizzle and FB when you have time please rip through car market as well, you will find some good examples. wish you good luck for your search. 👍

Dear friends Theo09 @Theo09 Sunil Mathew @Sunil Mathew Rajesh NG @Rajesh NG essam ibrahim @essam ibrahim Klaus Pedersen @Klaus Pedersen Thomas Collins Jayakumar @Thomas Collins Jayakumar Saverio Arena @Saverio Arena Murtaza Bhuria @Murtaza Bhuria Jeetu Sharma @Jeetu Sharma babaski @babaski Arun Menon @Arun Menon Krishna R @Krishna R Look forwards to see you all tomorrow, for those who are joining first time please go through the briefing video below Mandatory gears required for this drive are 1. Shovel 2. Radio - Programmed and charged 3. Off road flag and pole 4. Compressor 5. Deflator No Gears = No Drive Front and Rear tow hooks should be present More information in below link Convoy list will follow soon

Hi @GauravSoni - confirmed!

@Srikumari am in now added for drive. See you on Friday

Rookie mistake - set-up your calendar so that you get a reminder everyday 2 months prior to this special day!

These cars have finally become quite recognized by the offroad community, and the clean examples exchange ownership pretty fast. Both places you mentioned are indeed the main sources, but be aware that often you will see them being advertised for 30kAED while the owner might be open for some haggling to bring it down to a more realistic offer (this is very common here). Take your time and if possible try to stretch your budget a bit if you manage to find a clean example that's well maintained with good service history and not abused offroad. When i purchased mine earlier this year there was a very clean 2013 model for sale for around 40kAED which i found to be way over budget, but after replacing so many parts on our 2008 model, perhaps in the long end that 2013 would have been a better option

Thanks for the reply. I'm shifting more and more towards Xterra. Any recommendations on where to find a good deal? I'm searching dubbizle and facebook market, but both are full of dealers. Maybe you know some places where I can find more private offers?

One more thing, you will find the USA import models to be at least 3000kAED cheaper. I am personally not a fan, but it could be an option to consider. I think they are virtually the same as the GCC models (even same radiators i think). They might have a history of accidents in the US (write-off) but then again even a GCC 2008 without accidents would be a unicorn in my opinion. Mine is a GCC with some accident history but nothing serious.

@MMansoor Does she knws that U had signed up for this drive?😂

Dear Dune Surfers! @Mario Cornejo @Jaro Tuzinsky @Imran Kashif @DP1011 @Gerrit Bus @Beide Worku @Benjamin @Krishna R @Chris Wing @Santoso Marjuki.. Please confirm your plans for the weekend ( you can click totally agree). @Zed @Mohamad Anwer @Salim Akhtar @Karthik_LC200 let me know if you guys are still interested to join and have no alternate plans for the Saturday morning. Please ensure that your cars are in good condition and all known issues have been fixed. we target to start at Dawn, with an intention of enjoying the summer sunrise on top of a mighty dunes of Sweihan. Looking forward !!

Congrations @Patrick van der Loo! Enjoy the new drives!

Thank you for your reply See you on Friday evening Go through the drive thread properly and note the mandatory gears required to join this drive being - shovel, off road flag &pole, compressor, deflator and a Radio ( programming details mentioned in the thread)

26th May is already pay day... don't tell the wife that 1000dhs already spent on fuel to Sweihan! 😂

@Looper added WL for 3rd drive... if this is the same track like last time, I want to try the Cherokee V8 this time, see which car can climb higher 😂

This sat in Sweihan buddy! ellam ungalidam kuditha yaanaipal manna!

Get ready for squeaking the next time you bring it on sand 😁

Hello, unfortunately I cannot joint you since last minute issue. Hopefully will join you next week. Sorry again. Enjoying the night drive!

Hi Doc @Chaitanya D Apologies, I need to drop. Just dropped car for normal service and they need to replace hyrdaulic engine mount, covered under warranty and the part was ordered in Jan😅, as I get my car back on Satday Noon. Will certainly miss this twilight fun...

Hi @GauravSoni Just dropped car for normal service and they need to replace hyrdaulic engine mount, covered under warranty and the part was ordered in Jan😅, Will miss this much awaited Sweihan IM drive😐, as I get my car back on Satday Noon.