Noob

Back to: General Chat9 Replies
  • Author
    Posts
  • iant
    July 19, 2012 at 12:02 pm #1304

    Hi guys,

    Just joined and looking forward to catching up with everyone for a drive soon.

    Can anyone recommend a good shop in Dubai to purchase items from; I’m guessing Ace for some of the basic stuff but what about specialist items – new tyres, wheels, snatch straps etc.?

    Many thanks & Ramadan Kareem!

    Ian

    Tiger
    July 19, 2012 at 12:13 pm #17795

    Welcome to Dubai Offroaders Ian.

    Have a look at the below sites, hope it may be useful for you.

    http://www.dollarauto.ae/
    http://icon-auto.com/
    http://www.ramy4x4.com/

    And ofcourse, “Dragon Mart” is an option for various offroad gears – cheap and chinese quality.

    Best Regards

    iant
    July 22, 2012 at 8:49 am #17867

    Thanks Kumar,

    Very much appreciated. I have some other questions, re. tyres & wheels so I’ll post them on the other fourms.

    Cheers!

    iant
    July 22, 2012 at 9:52 am #17871

    Thanks Ali,

    I’ve read some great articles already that have answered most of my questions, but was wondering about the wheels/tyres on my Pajero.

    She’s still fitted with the standard Mitsi wheels and Bridgestone Duellers and I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on whether or not to upgrade either or both of these? I’ve already tried some very mild off-roading, on fairly level ground but in deep, soft sand, and have been less than impressed. Admittedly, I’ve not deflated my tyres as much as I should (don’t have a mini compressor….yet!) but I’m quite disappointed in current performance and can only hope the lower pressure will make a considerable difference.

    On that note, does anyone have any guidelines on tyre pressures for the Pajero? I’ve read Imran’s excellent article “Must Read for Newbies”, so if there’s no opinion on pressures to use, then I’ll refer to his guidance there.

    Many thanks in advance,

    Ian

    chris
    July 22, 2012 at 10:59 am #17876

    I am not an expert, still learning. But I can tell you the difference between tyres on normal pressure (30+ PSI) and deflated tyres is huge. On normal pressure I cannot make it further than a few meters into soft sand. After deflating my car can go (almost) everywhere. And if my driver skills improve over time I can be in it to enjoy it as well 😀

    As for the pressure to use; I started out with 15 PSI but i am now running on 13 PSI and even that is a huge difference. I don’t think special offroad tyres will help much but that’s my opinion. Just join us on a drive soon, experiment a bit with tyre pressure to find the sweet spot for your car and terrain at hand. And ofcourse during the drives you can learn a lot from the marshals and senior members. That knowledge is far more valuable than new wheels on your car :ymapplause:

    Welcome and happy :drive:

    zarir
    July 22, 2012 at 4:58 pm #17885

    hi ian,

    firstly, welcome to the club.

    i couldn’t agree more with chris and sattu when they say do a couple of drives and get to know your car. nothing to beat hands on experience.

    with regard to the pajero – its a great car to begin off-roading with (except the horrendous bumpers). its a reliable toy and will serve you well till you reach a higher level in off-roading. don’t expect it to climb like the jeeps and fjs and patrols etc, but it will definitely serve your purpose and make you have a nice time. i write from experience here and i am sure the other pajero owners like ganesh, mehul, ashwin etc can vouch for that. i have the original dunlop atr on mine and i normally deflate down to 13 – 14 odd psi and have even driven at 10 psi on extremely soft sand and yes it does make a world of a difference.

    cheers

    anonymous
    July 22, 2012 at 5:09 pm #17886

    Ian,

    Pajero is a very good car to drive off roading even to the higher level of offroading. if you like to know more of ur car, i would recommend you to read an article in our Technical forum “things you would like to know about Pajero” and you can find all the information required about pajero..

    iant
    July 24, 2012 at 4:06 am #17928

    Dear all,

    Thanks again for the excellent replies & wealth of knowledge; I had hoped that deflating the tyres would answer my concerns about the current performance, so this advice has made me (and my wife & bank manager!) very happy 😉 I went to Icon Autos the other evening and saw how easy it could be to spend a loooooooooooot of money on this hobby, lol!

    I’m certainly not looking to tackle anything massive in my Paj, but just being able to get off the tarmac and see some new sights would be great, especially in the winter months when picnics & camping are options as well.

    I’m going to get a mini compressor and some other essentials this weekend, then have a practice over the next few weeks and hopefully join you guys for a ‘real’ drive.

    Again, many thanks and looking forward to catching up soon.

    Ian

    chris
    July 24, 2012 at 8:21 am #17936

    I wouldn’t practice to be honest. nothing more dangerous than going out into the desert on your own without any experience.
    There are first timers joining the DO drives all the time. I had zero experience on my first drive with DO but there is no way to learn faster than driving with experienced offroaders and helpfull marshals.

    See you soon on DO drive 🙂

    iant
    July 29, 2012 at 5:43 am #18078

    Thanks Chris – I usually head out behind Nad al Sheeba; not really the ‘desert’ but enough flatish sand & open spaces to practice very basic skills. Plus the dog geets to run around while I practice using the shovel! 😉

  • Author
    Posts
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.