(ThyBlackMan.com) Off-roading isn’t always about driving over rocky terrain or ice. It can also be about heading out to the beach and having your off-road or devour mile upon mile of pristine sands. It’s important to remember, though, that while driving on the edge of the water is usually easy (because the water compacts the sand), venturing into the dry areas can be difficult. The wheels of heavy off-roaders easily sink in sand and then have a hard time coming out. Not only does it help to get have the right tires on, it helps to know how to handle an SUV in such conditions. Once you master the terrain, heading out into loose sand can be great fun.
Working those tires
All-wheel-drive certainly does help with traction in loose sand. Once you have a few basic features such as these, though, it all comes down to the choice of tire and how tire pressure is managed. Two trucks with the same specifications will perform very differently depending on what tires they have and how hard they are.
The number one rule to doing well in sand, even if you what you have is a standard road car, is to reduce tire pressure greatly. An underinflated tire will spread out, putting down a larger footprint to the ground for added traction. You can actually see that tires inflated to 12 psi (which is less than half of regular inflation levels) float on 
the surface of sand rather than sinking in. Hard-inflated tires cut deep in the sand. Not only is the going hard with regular inflation, it overheats the motor.
Of course, it’s important to make sure that you have the right tires for the job. Heavy-duty sidewalls are essential, and low-profile tires won’t work nearly as well as fat ones.
Learn the technique
When you drive on soft, loose sand, you need to be constantly aware of what your tires are doing. For instance, you need to understand that there is no such thing as momentum on sand. Sand tends to resist movement so greatly, you’ll come to a standstill in a few feet, no matter how fast you’re moving. The idea, then, should always be to maintain movement through gradual acceleration, gentle steering, and making sure that the wheels never spin, even a little bit.
Be especially careful on the hills
It can take considerable skill negotiating hills, especially when going downhill. Since cars such as the Dodge Ram 1500 are loaded at front, going downhill tends to press the front of the car down. Going across doesn’t help, either. It only bogs the tires down. When you have a hill to negotiate, you need to go need to maintain momentum, and head straight down as far as possible.
It’s important to remember this about driving in the water
As wonderful as the commercials seem to make driving through waves look, it isn’t a good idea, unless you’re about to wash the car’s underside immediately. Saltwater can quickly cause rust. It’s also important to remember that the color of the sand tends to be very close to skin color. If there are people on the sand, you usually don’t see them unless you are right upon them. It’s important to never take your eyes off the path that you’re taking.
Staff Writer; Larry Shaw
