Off roading with the Sorento

The first day:

Before I left for the trip I asked how much air pressure should be put into the tires, when going off road. I was told to lower it to 24 PSI. I FORGOT. 15 minutes after we started the track, boom a flat.

I used the hi-lift to replace the tire (10 minutes) and another hour to find a place to fix it.

We went back to the track around the big crater in the Negev desert, you can see the view:

This time I lowered the tires air pressure to 30 PSI.

From the view point the fun started, a steep down hill:

I put into Low, first gear, wonderful. I could hear the skid plates and the side bars work.

Look at the colour of the rocks (I know the Sorento is beautiful):

The rest of the day was easy.

The second day, we planed a track in the Zin Wadi, a track known as a difficult one.

The track starts with some water crossing:

Great fun.

Then it started, steep up hills and down hills, holes, pits and driving over rocks, the pictures:

After a whole day bashing the skid plates this is how they look:

That was a great day.

Conclusion
The tires that came withthe the truck, the Kumho 798, needs to be replaced. Probably some time after the coming winter.
The Sorento is a superb truck handled the hard stuff beautifully. Never failed were other trucks passed and in some cases did better.
If you plan to seriously go off road the skid plates is a MUST.

All in all no damage done and after such a track it’s an assuring sign to other trips to come.

Two last images, the Sorento at the lowest place on earth, the Dead Sea minus 380 meter (approximately. -1200 feet) on the altimeter (sorry for the bad picture quality), you can sea the Dead sea in the background.