ASAD.

@Gaurav this looks very exciting thanks for organizing. Just a question now that saw this weeks drive plan is issued. So this training will be counted as 1 weekend drive? or should we be able to register in any other drive? 

Thanks Dr @Chaitanya D for the fantastic drive and leading us to YT, very well guided by @Vaibhav at SL. My first visit to Liwa and was totally worth it. Like I said after we completed the drive, the fantastic thing about it was everyones company right from when we camped at the night to the drive. Was great meeting everyone including members in the other convoys. 

Much has been said already about the drive itself so not going to repeat but everyone drove wonderfully well, I am sure the ones who brought their kids and families enjoyed it a lot. @Jaro Tuzinsky & @Pascal cant wait to see the camera and  footages you took. 

Thanks @M.Seidam and @varunmehndiratta for anchoring the convoy, you presence gave a lot of confidence to all the drivers as well as the supports @Karthik Raptor @Waqas Parvez &  @Vaibhav . Have a good weekend, see you all soon. 

congrats @DP1011 , Deepak wrangler buddy, happy shoveling together. 

Congrats @Fabien Monleau

Thanks @Gaurav for the promotion and to everyone else for the warm welcome. Glad to have joined a special group of people and contribute to the community where i can. Also perfect timing (read Weather) to up the shoveling game 😂.

34 minutes ago, Zixuan Huang - Charlie said:

I remember you had air leakage on RR tire one of the drive that I was behind you, it would have been a popout if not for the beadgrip rim.

My pathfinder has similar weight and output to Prado, I run G015 on stock rim between 8-10 psi with no single pop out for a year already, even tho one of tire pressure sensor broke due to aggressive driving style.  A flawed batch could be most probably cause.

Yep i remember. The wheels avoided the popout sure but sand went inbetween and the tire kept leaking. When i finished the drive went straight to a tire shop and had the tire taken off and clean the wheel. And thats another issue, if sand does somehow manage to get in it settles in between the grooves that causes leakage at low pressures. Also not all tire shops have experience dealing with beadgrips, if they are not careful while debeading the tire and try forcing with the machine they can again potentially damage the tire. 

Thanks again everyone for the well wishes

@Tom B @Karthik Raptor you guys are absolutely right, it could just be a bad batch and my luck that ive been having one issue after the other. I think part of my frustration is due to the fact that i used to think the beadgrips will be worryfree. They do have some advantages no doubt bt for me atleast I feel the disadvantages outweigh them if all you are looking for is not to have a popout (that risk can anyway be reduced with better driving skills). For example not be able to fix a popout if you have one is also considerable disadvantage. 
Like i said my love/ hate relationship with these wheels will probably continue as i dont intend to spend more money on changing them anytime soon 😄.
However for those who are looking to get new wheels beadgips, beadlocks, standard offset etc. be sure to understand the pros & cons that come with any of them. 

50 minutes ago, Sunil Mathew said:

Thanks @ASAD. for the feedback... after reading this, i am less inclined to change my stock rims  

did you manage to get a warranty replacement? or is this viewed as non recommended set up by Yokohama dealer?

how long have you had these tyres on the beadgrip rims?

The dealer has sent the damaged tire to yokohama for warranty claim, i am yet to receive a feedback. I have used it for about 7 months now, obviously i tried to pin it on the dealer that its the issue with the tire so lets see how it goes. But ive seen this a general issue with the beadgrips, like i said u may want to upgrade wheels for other reasons looks, offset etc. but believe me pop-outs are way easier to fix on non-beadgrip wheels 😊 

On 11/26/2022 at 4:29 PM, JeromeFJ said:

Dear Friends, 

It was a pleasure to drive with you this morning. Faqa proved one more time to be a beautiful area, with lots of possibilities. I think we made the most of it, with the technical part at the beginning, and these amazing long ridges parallel to each others.  The beauty of an homogeneous IM convoy as we had today, is that as a lead I can just do whatever I like, go check that dune, go look at this bowl, let's see how long we can take the ridge .... and the convoy follows

Ok in a few occasions, I could not climb a slip face, or I was trapped in a soft pocket, we had also a few stucks and refusals,  but we had a great experience. and when I finally got crested, it was a sign that it was time to exit.

Excellent driving from all of you, especially from the middle of the convoy to the back, were the sharp ridges where rounded, but the sand much churned.

Many thanks @Joji varghese for an excellent 2nd lead, you were concentrated with excellent reactions when needed. Thank you @Vaibhav for watching the back of the convoy as sweep, with nice comms as usual, @Rob S @Waqas Parvez and @Rajiv Sam for the support, and all of you for helping the recoveries when needed. @ASAD., I hope your tire will be repaired or replaced without too much hassle and @Vaibhav your electronics back in order.

Enjoy the weekend, and see you in Liwa YT for who are participating !

Thanks again for the wonderful morning drive @JeromeFJ.  The rest of the gang was spectacular as expected from a strong convoy, a bit of an issue with my tire but thanks to the team again we had the spare one on in no time. 
 

Thought will give some feedback on the issue of my rear tire. The tire beads were completely destroyed so had to change it completely. I had the other rear tire taken off as well as i wanted to put the new tires at the rear and though the tire was fine for use its beads had similar but lesser wear. The root cause ofcourse is the beadgrip wheels that i have, how and why does it have this impact on the tires i am yet to understand but they surely do impact the tires life, somone i know who also had a similar experience said the geolanders are too soft for these type of wheels, they need more rugged tires with thicker walls. Either way I think ive been quite vocal in one of the other discussions about the beadgrips and my love/ hate relationship with them since i bought. Just another word of caution for those who are looking to buy one of those, u are better off learning to drive at reduced tire pressures or getting standard offroad wheels if its just for the looks. 
 

1 hour ago, MMansoor said:

@JeromeFJ unfortunately I will have to drop out, my engine was rebuilt last week my mechanic advised me yesterday to run the car for 1000K and do oil change before taking it to the desert.

I will miss this drive and the convey, hope i will join next time.

Bro, i am out LOL cause, i need to do engine break inn 

Man your car project has taken really long. Hope your mechanic has it sorted this time. 

1 hour ago, Vaibhav said:

I would like to thank in advance @Rob S @ASAD. @Waqas Parvez @MMansoor for the churned up tracks 😆

Well you have the jeeps to keep you company when you get stuck 😂

Missed the event, im sure was a wonderful gathering. Unfortunately my family doesn't share my enthusiasm for the desert so had other plans 😅. Hopefully will be able to convince them for next time. 

2 hours ago, Srikumar said:

@GauravSoni @JeromeFJ @Looper @Vaibhav @Waqas Parvez @Zixuan Huang - Charlie @Amr Aydin @Simon Dawood @Gok Krish @Imran Kashif @ASAD. @Mario Cornejo @Chris Wing @Rizwanm2 @Frederic @Gaurav

Good morning boys, we are less than 24 hours away from what is expected to be an exciting day. Please go through the all the points mentioned on the Original Post. Few important points to recap:

• Please ensure that you come with a full tank.
• If you have a spare radio, bring it. A car charger for the radio will also help
• Conserve fuel when not needed
• Drive within your own and vehicle limits. Keep your Egos at the deflation point and dont push yourself to the limit

As we are a big group, we would be running 2 convoys.

@GauravSoni has volunteered to lead the other convoy. Thank you as even Wl members have got a chance to taste the terrain.

So the split in convoy is as follows (this is not the convoy numbering):

1st Group

• GauravSoni
• Chris Wing
• Mario Cornejo
• Looper
• Imran Kashif
• Zixuan Huang - Charlie
• Simon Dawood
• Gok Krish
• Rizwan

2nd Group

• Srikumar
• Amr Aydin
• Waqas
• Gaurav
• Jerome
• Vaibhav
• Frederic
• Asad

Convoy numberings and radio frequency would be announced by the respective trip leads. 

great convoys cant wait to get to the starting point. Thanks to @GauravSoni for making sure no one misses out on this epic drive. 

58 minutes ago, Rizwanm2 said:

Finally home ministry approved.. after heavy negotiations and being good boy for the whole week... 

Here i come Al Quaa.   🤩😍

Well good on you that you asked, i am going for shock & Awe treatment when i pack up my stuff. Will later worry if i will be allowed back. 

2 hours ago, MMansoor said:

@Srikumar I have to unfortunately withdraw from this drive, which has been happening for past few weeks😔 with other drives as well because of my head gasket issue which is taking time to fix, was expecting the car to be ready today. 

I will miss this epic drive and the convoy. 

Too bad man, its been 3 weeks now i hope you get it sorted soon. Hopefully many drives this season that you will be able to join 

1 hour ago, Srikumar said:

@Imran Kashif @Chris Wing @ASAD. @Mario Cornejo you have been added on to the drive list. We will be running 2 convoys.

Details to follow....

Best news of the day 😍

57 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

15 ppl laughed at me, which means none of you really got the point.

3+3 hours on road for Qua it's gonna be a very boring drive on the tarmac.

@Gauravthere are 9 more ppl waiting to entertain you in this boring drive. Pls add them to have some fun.

Before the engine I need to tune my internet for 3x speed at 7 today 😃. Good luck gang. 

fantastic drive as usual Doc @M.Seidam, just noticed this was my 50th in carnity so couldn't have asked for a better one. We picked the pace right from the start and never let it down (except for my stuck 😅). Thanks again for tugging me out and for @Imteeaz @Waqas Parvez @Simon Dawood& @Vaibhav for all the shoveling. Red Bulls on me for next drive. 

@Vaibhav flawless 2nd lead, so impressive that we have recommended to Doc to make that your permanent position 😂. 

@Waqas Parvez thank you for sweeping the convoy and being patient with constant sand showers i was providing. 

@Haitham Khattab @DP1011 , Deepak wrangler @Imteeaz @Simon Dawood @Anoop Nair always a pleasure meeting and driving with you guys. See you all soon. 

Great addition to the support team, congrats @Karthik Raptor. More power to the tugs 💪🏻😃

Thank you @Islam Soliman for a wonderful morning drive. The convoy was long (longest Ive been in carnity 😃) with quite a few newbies and absolute newbies but everyone drove so beautifully that it was difficult to make out that some had not been regulars in the desert. 

@Benjamin well driven in the 2nd lead. Thanks to my friends @munkybizness @Simon Dawood & @Gaurav Soni for the support and guidance to everyone, always a pleasure driving with you. Lastly, great to see our brother @Mohamad Anwer back in the desert restarting his LC legend with his beautiful LC73. Good to see you again and all the best bro! 

See you all soon in the desert. 

congrats & well done @salah2u. 

congrats @Haitham Khattab. 

well done @Simon Dawood. As someone I have driven with many times and witnessed the smiling face & helping hand, i know you will do great being a support. All the best!