Man you were sure in a rush to get it dirty and full of sand. Sounds like you wanted to get stuck on the first week too. I mean i assume that its 4x4 otherwise with ur stock tires wouldn't you have been stuck in that sand, pretty soft looking stuff.
We actually were staying at a place we normally don't stay at that was quite a distance from the nearest gas station. Because of that I didn't air down the tires because I didn't want to have to drive 15 miles on tires with 19lbs of pressure in them unless I had to. I figured I would air them down if I got stuck. It wasn't as easy on the beach as normal, but I didn't get stuck.
Stock tires, I did have to use 4x4 low, and it was VERY soft stuff...pretty wet sand, I would call it "fluffy." Came through like a champ though. I really like the Michelin tires. They have been wearing great, were great in the snow and in the sand, off road woods too. I really like that they have the guts off road, but are smooth on the highway. I like them as much as the BF goodrich on my 03 Explorer I had (which went to 70K on one set). I think these are shaping up to go that far at least, but are more expensive according to tire rack.
To make my post longer, I'll give you a story about it:
This was in the Outer Banks, I live in Northern VA. Ride down with another couple in the truck was great. Did our thing and I really wanted to get on the beach. It was early spring and I don't usually get down there that time of year when all the beaches are open for 4x4. So the afternoon before we leave to come back my friend and I go out on the beach, cruise around and do some fishing (that's when the photo was taken). Like I said, I didn't air down the tires and had to use 4 low. It was very soft and deep stuff and it was not "wet" but very very moist. I would say the perfect sand castle sand. so we wound up spinning the tires quite a bit to drive around. We then returned to the house, about 1/2 mile off the beach and park for the night.
The next day we get in the truck, load it up and get on the highway. We are only going about 45mph and I swear I feel a little vibration, but figure it's just me. I'm always feeling or hearing phantom sounds and vibrations in my cars
We get off the islands and start at highway speeds and I definitely feel a vibration. My friends are watching a DVD and the screen is shaking like crazy. I get really pissed because I figure I spun off a wheel weight or something and am going to have to drive it back to the dealer the next day (a work day) and I hate it when my stuff doesn't work right or gets broken!
We stop about 20 minutes later for me to drown my sorrows in a sonic sundae and while we are sitting down I look over the wheels with my friend and check the tire pressure and wheel weights, all looks good. Then my friend looks underneath and on the inside of the wheel to see if a weight is in there and says "oh!, get me a stick or spoon or something." I give him a plastic spoon and he starts in on something. Then I see piles of sand coming out from under the car. It turns out that we got a ton of sand on the inside of the "hollow" wheels, didn't drive fast enough to spin it off, and then it sat all night in the wheels, dried out and hardened, thus making the wheels out of balance. I bet we dug 1 gallon of sand out of each wheel with little plastic spoons. I really want to get it all and wished there was a car wash around and poof! behind the sonic was a coin pressure car wash. I washed out the wheels and even more sand came out.
After that it was smooth as silk on the highway.
Lesson learned....Sonic can fix anything
