Improve your off road driving skills

[Lightspeed]

Midnight,
I have a series 2 Landrover Discovery ( that's the newest version that my technical skills and equipment will let me service and repair on my own)

When purchased it had shiny alloy wheels and brand new wide road bias tyres...That wheel and tyre set really looked the business. All was well until temperatures started dropping and I noticed that adhesion to the road was a little less than optimal. First snow and ice revealed the thing to be pretty much uncontrollable, even with all the electronic assistance gizmos doing their thing. I thought I'd made a big mistake with this car.

A change of tyres to narrow profile Snow and Ice Certified Mud and Snow tyres have made the car what it should always have been. We now extract fully laden trailers of tree trunks on slippery deeply rutted forest tracks. There is slight loss of steering precision on road, but barely noticeable even at higher motorway speeds.

I'd expect your softroader to have a different personality, masked by its current road bias tyres... maybe worth investigating?

But an off road bike ridden by an experienced rider will go places that 4x4s wont and will do so at a fraction of the fuel cost, its true.

[NorthernRaider]

A local private forestry company bought some 4x4s brand new a couple of years ago, I cannot remember what they were but when they used them they constantly lost traction and steering in the lumpy bumpy muddy bits, They then changed all the wheel / tyre sets for steel wheels ( each to bash back into shape) and narrow tyres ( M & S ) and the vehicles were transformed.

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Get a pony fit it with M & S shoes and a winch, sorted

[Midnitemo]

In truth I never envisioned going off road with this car , it was bought for it's size and weight so it could tow an Ifor Williams HB505 trailer with pony and a small horse weighing in at about 850 kg combined , the toughest I expect to ask of it is to find a some traction on a wet&slippy show ground, I hate the car because of its image, it's lack of ability,it's lack of economy , it's complexity but most of all what really boil's my piss is the DPF regeneration mode and the way the car alway's wants to do it at the least opportune fekkin time.....give me back my Panda anyday lol.

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love the heated seats(it's one saving grace)

[BeardyMan]

Sold my Surf didn't want to, but can't fit 3 car seats in it, so was effectively useless to me. And can't really afford to run two cars.
Been missing the RWD fun though, so thinking about a Jimny for me and the boy. Rip out back seats, get some MT tyres on there. And it's as narrow as a fat lad on a moped.

Best way to improve your off road driving skills is to practice. I've lived all over the country and have always found somewhere to give it a blast off road. Just don't get stuck with the wife and kids in the car...