dp351
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2022
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- 264
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- Location
- California
- Vehicles
- Ariel Atom, R1T
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- #1
Following up from the disappointment of my first attempt to enjoy the Rivian on the sand dunes at Pismo Beach, because it was closed, I went back this week and got to explore & enjoy the Rivian’s capability. In the process I learned a few things.
Tire Pressure: I aired my (BFG KO2) tires down from the high 50’s psi that I drive them at on the street, to 40 for the sand. I thought this was still on the high side based on pressures I’ve heard other vehicles running, but I didn’t want to go too low considering the Rivian’s heavy weight. But for some reason my right front got a slow leak at the outer bead.
The Rivian’s air compressor is a Godsend. I quickly hooked up the on board compressor to the leaking tire. I didn’t really think this would solve anything, but hoped that it would buy me enough time to get from the dunes to the beach, where changing to the spare tire would be a lot easier. It was a race between the leak and the compressor. A crappy cigarette lighter compressor would have lost this battle, but the Rivian compressor was powerful enough to inflate the tire faster than it was deflating. I was lucky. I inflated the tire above 50 psi and hurried back toward the beach. Along the way I noticed that my tire pressure sensor showed that the tire wasn’t losing pressure any more, and hasn’t since. Got really lucky!
Power is reduced quickly when driving in soft sand. I’m guessing that power was reduced by 25%-30% at the same time that I heard a fan running, which was after only a minute or two of hard driving. This seemed like the same fan that runs when the battery is being conditioned for fast charging. After stopping for about five minutes, the fan stopped and then power was restored when I started driving again. But then it would cut back relatively quickly after that, even without a super heavy throttle foot. This was obviously a thermal issue, which makes sense.
Watch out for steep drops when driving away from the ocean, or downwind. It’s amazing how hard it is to see the slopes in the sand from the drivers seat, how deceiving it can be, and how quickly a drop off can appear out of nowhere if you’re not careful. we went slow & got out often.
Overall, we had a great time & the truck performed amazingly.
Tire Pressure: I aired my (BFG KO2) tires down from the high 50’s psi that I drive them at on the street, to 40 for the sand. I thought this was still on the high side based on pressures I’ve heard other vehicles running, but I didn’t want to go too low considering the Rivian’s heavy weight. But for some reason my right front got a slow leak at the outer bead.
The Rivian’s air compressor is a Godsend. I quickly hooked up the on board compressor to the leaking tire. I didn’t really think this would solve anything, but hoped that it would buy me enough time to get from the dunes to the beach, where changing to the spare tire would be a lot easier. It was a race between the leak and the compressor. A crappy cigarette lighter compressor would have lost this battle, but the Rivian compressor was powerful enough to inflate the tire faster than it was deflating. I was lucky. I inflated the tire above 50 psi and hurried back toward the beach. Along the way I noticed that my tire pressure sensor showed that the tire wasn’t losing pressure any more, and hasn’t since. Got really lucky!
Power is reduced quickly when driving in soft sand. I’m guessing that power was reduced by 25%-30% at the same time that I heard a fan running, which was after only a minute or two of hard driving. This seemed like the same fan that runs when the battery is being conditioned for fast charging. After stopping for about five minutes, the fan stopped and then power was restored when I started driving again. But then it would cut back relatively quickly after that, even without a super heavy throttle foot. This was obviously a thermal issue, which makes sense.
Watch out for steep drops when driving away from the ocean, or downwind. It’s amazing how hard it is to see the slopes in the sand from the drivers seat, how deceiving it can be, and how quickly a drop off can appear out of nowhere if you’re not careful. we went slow & got out often.
Overall, we had a great time & the truck performed amazingly.
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