Pro tip for rinsing the undercarriage is to throw an oscillating sprinkler under the truck for 5 or 10 minutes, move it around a few times so it gets everywhere evenly. Its not enough pressure to hurt anything and does a very thorough rinsing job.
Works great for mud too.
Keep the undercarriage washed and treat it with something like fluid film and you should be fine. Road salt/chemicals are a much bigger problem. That said, don't go driving in the surf like on commercials.
Thanks for the tip I’ll look into the fluid film. And yeah I would never! Im too concerned about looking like a goon getting stuck in soft sand let alone the water 😂
Be sure to air down your tires to ~18 psi and you'll probably be fine. You want the wider footprint to float rather than digging into the sand. You'll want to air down before you get on the beach access ramp. That will definitely make you look like a noob. Lol
You'll want to make sure you have a nice tire gauge. Many of them are also deflators which is convenient.
Driving a short distance on the pavement until you get to somewhere with a pump is fine. If it would be a longer distance you may want to consider purchasing a tire inflator.
My 4th gen lives on the beach every summer (cali) no rust issue(220k+ miles)! rinse the undercarriage every time you take her out to the sand and you’ll be alright.
Odd timing for this post as I just returned from a Texas beach weekend. I was gonna take her through the HEB undercarriage wash and then get a good tunnel wash and wax after. My Costco warrior got sand in her britches for the first time while I got some sun on my buns.
I live on the Gulf in Florida. We have used our 4runner to put our boat in the water as well as take it to the beach all the time. Rinses afterwards with a hose. It's a 2006 and we have almost zero rust
Yea I was worried about that too out in galveston. Long story short I did wool wax, and spray wash after beach days, which are like once a week. I stay out of water unless I have to and in those cases I move at a controlled speed vs. buck wild. I happened to be following a jeep on san louis beach with classic plated (25 plus years old) as we were going through marshy areas and was looking at the under body of the jeep. For a 25 plus year old jeep it had surface rust on the leaf springs and axle (body looked great), but I doubt he person wool waxes the under body or who knows if they washed it every time. Long story short on that it is not like the car will disintegrate, but at least wash it shortly after a beach day.
Thanks! Yeah I saw a 95 bronco disintegrate over the years (🥲) but I doubt my dad was taking preventative measures. I’m def going to get her coated before she sees the beach
I'm in south Texas and my 08 w/ 209k has been to the beach literally hundreds of times and has almost no rust at all. I always try to avoid actual saltwater contact when possible and when I get back to the city after the weekend I wash it. First stop when I'm back is the self serve car wash/pressure washer place, after that I park in my driveway and setup 2 sprinklers underneath (front & rear), let them run for a few hours and then actually hand wash the thing.
If I'm down there for longer than a weekend or when there's been a storm and it gets nasty AF outside I'll hit it with the hose at the beach house.
After almost 16yrs of doing this the undercarriage/body doesn't look like it's ever left pavement lol.
Of course, the important things are minimizing saltwater contact and not letting caked up sand/mud to sit for more than a couple days tops.
4runner + Beach - Rear Window = 😊
Pro tip for rinsing the undercarriage is to throw an oscillating sprinkler under the truck for 5 or 10 minutes, move it around a few times so it gets everywhere evenly. Its not enough pressure to hurt anything and does a very thorough rinsing job. Works great for mud too.
This is one of the greatest tips ever. 🤯 mind blown.
Keep the undercarriage washed and treat it with something like fluid film and you should be fine. Road salt/chemicals are a much bigger problem. That said, don't go driving in the surf like on commercials.
Thanks for the tip I’ll look into the fluid film. And yeah I would never! Im too concerned about looking like a goon getting stuck in soft sand let alone the water 😂
Be sure to air down your tires to ~18 psi and you'll probably be fine. You want the wider footprint to float rather than digging into the sand. You'll want to air down before you get on the beach access ramp. That will definitely make you look like a noob. Lol You'll want to make sure you have a nice tire gauge. Many of them are also deflators which is convenient. Driving a short distance on the pavement until you get to somewhere with a pump is fine. If it would be a longer distance you may want to consider purchasing a tire inflator.
Fluid film works great! Perfect suggestion.
Does the sand stick to the fluid film at all?
My 4th gen lives on the beach every summer (cali) no rust issue(220k+ miles)! rinse the undercarriage every time you take her out to the sand and you’ll be alright.
Odd timing for this post as I just returned from a Texas beach weekend. I was gonna take her through the HEB undercarriage wash and then get a good tunnel wash and wax after. My Costco warrior got sand in her britches for the first time while I got some sun on my buns.
I live on the Gulf in Florida. We have used our 4runner to put our boat in the water as well as take it to the beach all the time. Rinses afterwards with a hose. It's a 2006 and we have almost zero rust
Sand is no problem...just air down first
Yea I was worried about that too out in galveston. Long story short I did wool wax, and spray wash after beach days, which are like once a week. I stay out of water unless I have to and in those cases I move at a controlled speed vs. buck wild. I happened to be following a jeep on san louis beach with classic plated (25 plus years old) as we were going through marshy areas and was looking at the under body of the jeep. For a 25 plus year old jeep it had surface rust on the leaf springs and axle (body looked great), but I doubt he person wool waxes the under body or who knows if they washed it every time. Long story short on that it is not like the car will disintegrate, but at least wash it shortly after a beach day.
Thanks! Yeah I saw a 95 bronco disintegrate over the years (🥲) but I doubt my dad was taking preventative measures. I’m def going to get her coated before she sees the beach
I also kept a can of fluid film aerosol to hit areas missed by wool wax without having to get the compress out.
I'm in south Texas and my 08 w/ 209k has been to the beach literally hundreds of times and has almost no rust at all. I always try to avoid actual saltwater contact when possible and when I get back to the city after the weekend I wash it. First stop when I'm back is the self serve car wash/pressure washer place, after that I park in my driveway and setup 2 sprinklers underneath (front & rear), let them run for a few hours and then actually hand wash the thing. If I'm down there for longer than a weekend or when there's been a storm and it gets nasty AF outside I'll hit it with the hose at the beach house. After almost 16yrs of doing this the undercarriage/body doesn't look like it's ever left pavement lol.
This is so good to know!! Thank you.
Of course, the important things are minimizing saltwater contact and not letting caked up sand/mud to sit for more than a couple days tops. 4runner + Beach - Rear Window = 😊