Offroad Altima? Input requested

[RollinWOT]

My wife and I like camping, but since we have two young kids who need carseats, we can't bring just my Ranger. A couple weeks ago, we took the Altima to the campsite with us. The wasn't too rough, slight incline, some light mud, and a bit washboardy. I've seen other cars(think low slung AWD Subarus) handle it with relative ease. Nevertheless, she managed to get the car stuck. That got me thinking, what can I do to make it more offroad friendly? Not to the point off rallycar competitiveness but just something to help it be a wee bit more campsite able. It's a 2006 Nissn Altima 2.5S Sedan with the 2.5L 4-cylinder and 4-speed auto transmission. Just over 115K highway miles, and it's been gently driven most of it's life. I want to do some mods that won't bog down the engine or transmission much and retain mostly stock appearance. My stock tire size is P215/60R16, and I've only found 1 tire that fits it without going larger, which is the Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S. I've driven on these plenty, but never on my own personal vehicle. I want to put those on, or if need be, I could probably go to a P215/65R16, which is only 0.8" taller than factory spec. I like the options of the P215/65R16 better, as it opens me up to the BFG T/A KO2 with the 3-ply sidewall. Also, I want to put a skidplate on the car, and I'm thinking of 5/32" steel or 1/4" aluminum for preotection. Any input is greatly appreciated! Cheers!

 

[FALCON]

Have you considered selling the Altima and buying something else?

 

[66788]

Have you considered selling the Altima and buying something else?

+1

Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

 

[RollinWOT]

The Altima works best for my family, as it's mostly road driven, and we take long road trips several times a year, and this has been a very good vehicle for us. Plus, funds to buy a new car are unavailable.

 

[highdesertranger]

then sell the ranger and get something else. all you are going to do to that Altima is send it to an early grave. there is another point I want to bring up, because I have seen a lot of threads lately about people using cars for off road driving. please people be very, very careful. your cars a very low to the ground, therefore so is your catalytic convertor. your cat will start a fire. let me state that again "YOUR CATALYTIC CONVERTOR WILL START A FIRE". there have been 2 major fires in so cal in the last 8 years started by cats. highdesertranger

 

[RollinWOT]

Well selling the Ranger is a no-go as well. The most action the Altima will EVER see is a slight bit of muddy/washboardy roads. I'm not really even taking it offroading. The Ranger is for offroading. I just really just want it to not get stuck with the silly street tires it has and to protect the underbelly from rocks and such. Where we go, its all dirt, no grass, etc. So no chances of catching grass on fire or anything. If we were seriously taking the car into the back country where the Ranger could go, I would consider buying a 4wd SUV, but my wife and I are in our early 20's and we just can't afford to sell/buy cars willy nilly so to speak. Once the kids grow up a bit, stuffing all 4 of us in the Ranger will be no problem, as it's a Supercab with the rear jump seats. Again, by no means am I trying to make the Altima a rallycar or anything, I just want it to be slightly more capable on the muddy and rocky roads. HDR, as you stated, the car is very low for sure! That's my main reason for putting a skidplate on, even during our normal city driving, the roads here are terrible. The only reason we take the Altima is so we can haul the kids with us, it's more of a companion vehicle to the Ranger. Once we get to the campsite, the Ranger is what we use to really go offroad.

 

[FALCON]

Sounds like your plan is pretty good then or will work for gravel/dry and hard dirt roads. I wouldn't do anything else besides what you have listed. You could bring along some mats and a shovel for if it gets stuck again

 

[RollinWOT]

FALCON-Yes, that's pretty much all we have planned for "Sandy" as we call her. We have a little military E-tool and the carpet mats too. We keep chains as well, but there's hardly ever snow here.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I think the tires are an excellent idea.

Since no one makes skid plates for the Altima, you will have to have something custom fabbed.  It will have to be done in such a way that you can still service the stuff that would need servicing underneath.   I've no idea what that would cost, but I doubt it will be inexpensive.

Regards
John

 

[highdesertranger]

skid plates on a car is false security. there is no way to practically protect everything you could mess up. also then your are carrying that extra weight all the time, so cut some mpg. are you going to use steel or aluminum? if you use aluminum it must be at least 1/4 inch harden aircraft grade aluminum(I don't have the number of the top of my head). not easy to bend without a stout metal brake and it's expensive. so know your talking some serious coin to do this and by your own admission you don't have a lot of money. believe me I understand your desire, I used to have an off road Nova when I was a kid, it went a lot of places, but I was single with no kids and I worked in a 4x4 shop so I did everything for free. I could tell you what you need to do but I think this is a bad idea so I am reluctant to help you ruin your car. especially since you need it for an everyday driver. highdesertranger

 

[RollinWOT]

John- Thankfully, I'm a mechanic, so I can do all the fabbing myself. There are a couple unused holes in the subframe that I think would be perfect for attaching it to. I just want to make sure that it's light enough to not encumber the engine too much.

 

[RollinWOT]

HDR- Oh of course there's no way I could protect everything. Especially on a modern car like my Altima. I don't plan on doing off-road beater stuff or rock crawling. I just want a little extra protection for the most vital areas of the cars underbelly like oil pan, trans pan, etc. I only plan on doing some very light washboard roads with a bit of mud. The only reason I want the skidplate is because every now and then, there are big rocks and the occasional stump to look out for. I'm not blasting down the roads either, we go slow, especially on the roughest sections. My truck is what we use for the really rough stuff and offroad sections. The Altima is just for getting TO the trailhead, not for taking on the trail. I couldn't imagine ever taking it off road for real. I'll probably end up using 5/32" or maybe 1/8" steel. Believe me, I'm not careless offroad, especially with my wifes daily. When she told me her father got my car stuck, I was furious, as was she. So you could imagine why I'm putting a skidplate on it. If you want an idea of what we plan on taking the Altima on, just think of some dirt side-roads like you see next to the interstate. Nothing a normal passenger car couldn't handle, I just want the extra insurance a skidplate provides against the occasional unseen object.