Good morning all,

We're planning on a OBX run soon (if the fates allow) and the wife was wondering if we could take her Defender instead of my Jeep for a change. The house is in the off-road only section meaning when we arrive we are required (by law) to de-air to below 20 psi to drive up the beach and across the dunes to get to it. During the week we usually drive back and forth on the beach for the day, and venture no more than a few miles into and out of town for supplies, a meal, or other adventures. So we usually just leave the tires down for the week.

I'm wondering if anyone has had experience driving around their Defender de-aired yet? I'm just curious what the electronic nannies will do?

We recently had our first flat tire (insert rolling eyes) thanks to a friggin' driveway gravel rock (I'm aghast). And driving back from putting the spare on the ECU didn't recognize the spare right away and thought one wheel was at 18 psi. I just displayed and the low tire warning and didn't seem to interfere in any other way but I'm never sure with this thing as it has so many settings and variables (steering, throttle, etc.) that I could have missed something.

I realize I could go through the trouble of de-airing everything and run around the neighborhood, but it seems like a lot of effort to find out when I assume LR was smart enough to know people are going to drive this thing that way. But I'm still curious if anyone has anything to report.

If no one has any experience I suspect it would be wise of me to try it out before the 8 hour drive....

Thanks in advance and have a great week all,

Kev

 

I don't think you will have any issues airing down. When I air down our LR4 tires to 20 psi the tpms low air warning light seldom comes on. And OEM LR wheels have a really strong bead seal that will hold air at low tire pressure.

Which reminds me...will I ever see the onboard air compressor I included in my Defender order last September? Supposedly they are still on backorder.

 

Good to hear on the OEM wheel bead.

I thought about that onboard compressor but I was worried it might be underpowered. I remember years ago researching (ad nauseum) for a decent portable and so many reports were about models with insufficient volume that they took forever to air up big tires like these. I was pretty set on a large VIAIR unit when the township put in a free multi-port air up station less than a mile from the beach so I gave up the quest. I think I'd still go that way in the future though if I wanted, if only because I could transfer it from the Defender to the Wrangler and back again as needed.

 

I have made that OBX beach drive multiple times with our 2016 Evoque, aired down, and it worked superbly well. Also, in my LR4 aired down -- worked fine, too -- once I turned off DSC.

Do make sure you turn off DSC, which means you cannot be in Auto mode. Sand mode all the way will move the shift points so you maintain high revs and off-road mode, of course. Let us know your thoughts on whether HI of LO range works better for that particular sugary sand......

I agree with your better half -- the drive east will be much more pleasant in a JLR product.

Enjoy !

 

In a decade of running that beach in various Jeeps I don't think I've ever used 4Lo (well other than to try it and go NOPE). I suspect all it would do it dig into that fine stuff.

But yes, I will play around with settings and see what works. I was gonna go with Sand mode for the start! I sorta assumed that would shut off the DSC, but I'll check when I do it.

Of course over the years I've also done dumb things like come back from dinner, hop onto the beach, go along like nothing and then make the turn to cross the dune and suddenly realize that ONLY my rear wheels are digging in - turn red-face and quickly shift in the 4wd (in the Wrangler).

I'm pretty convinced at this point that my wife keeps me around mostly for comic relief.

 

In the Wrangler (at least the JK, 2007-2018) amazingly there's no way to tell the TPMS you have intentionally aired down. It's ridiculous. I have a little $150 tuner that uses a series of dip-switches to allow you to reprogram the computer for all sorts of changes -- 4.56 gears instead of 3.73, 37" tires instead of 31, 4:1 transfer case instead of 2.72, and adjusting the TPMS threshold or removing it altogether. So when I go to Moab for several weeks every year, I change out my 35s for 37 bias plies and remove the TPMS altogether and everything works like a champ. Is there nothing like this for Defenders? Man, I've been spoiled for years by all the aftermarket support for Jeeps!

Good to hear that the OEM wheels have good locking on the beads. I've rolled plenty of tires off at 7-10 pounds before, at rock crawling speeds. Burped a few more without rolling them off. I'll be interested to see how the OEM wheels and tires do before I replace the tires.

AEV Procal:

 

Good question. But maybe we won't need it. I mean the Def SEEMED to not care when it thought the one tire was at 18 psi. I will of course report back, though we're not going for a few weeks I think,.

Yeah I've seen the ProCal, but never bothered for my JKU because I'm running OEM sized wheels/tires (17" wheel/32" Tires from a ****** model), stock 3.73 gearing, and a 6-speed. Really the only thing it would do for me is shut off the annoying TPMS display whenever I start it on the beach/dunes. But I'm used to ignoring it anyway. It just chimes the one time each ignition cycle, so not too bad.

Yes we have been completely spoiled by the Jeep aftermarket.

 

I live on the Outer Banks and have had my defender for a month. I’ve taken it on the beaches, including Carova, several times. Airing down is not a problem and is the right way to do it. It is fantastic in the sand...however, I don’t necessarily like the shift points in the Sand Mode...unless I am in really soft sand. I find that Auto or even comfort mode works quite well unless negotiating some really soft stuff. I’m still experimenting with other modes in the sand...the snow/grass mode seems to work quite well on sand, but I need to for more evaluation on this.

Send me a message and maybe I’ll run up there to share in our defenders. Just love this vehicle

I’ve also been thinking about maybe organizing an outer banks defender event. Anyone else let me know if you are interested...

 

Sounds good!

Hmm snow mode eh? I'll play with the settings. You know how much the sand can change during a single day between rain and tide or traffic.

Oh and I'll pm when it's closer. It's also usually pretty easy to find us all things considered though obviously it would be a Pangea Green D110 for a change:

 

I'll be down in Nags Head for Memorial Day weekend. Anyone else around then?