Off Road Nissan Altima?

[RollinWOT]

I've been thinking about making my wife's Altima into a pseudo-offroader. She took it on a camping trip, and long story short, it got stuck with just minor mud in the tires and on a slight uphill/washboard road. I' sure if I was with her it wouldn't have gotten stuck, but I feel like it could be more offroad friendly. Not in the way of serious lift kits and what not, but more of the AWD Subaru sense. Here's a little background on the car. It's a 2006 Nissan Altima sedan with the 2.5L 4 cylinder and 4-speed auto trans, FWD, with a little over 115k freeway miles. It's been gently driven most of it's life, but now that we've got 2 young kids, taking the Ranger camping alone isn't enough for all of our stuff. My idea is to fabricate a custom skidplate(possibly 1/8" steel or 1/4" aluminum), put some decent offroad tires on it and maybe that's it? I don't know much about rally cars, but I'd like to use some of that engineering on my car. It's got a set of P21560R16 street tires on it now, and as far as I can find there's only 1 tire(Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S) in my factory tire size. I might be able to push it to a P215/65R16(only 0.8" taller than factory) which opens me up to a set of BFG T/A KO2 which I really like, especially with the 3-ply sidewall. If anyone has any experience with rally/offroad cars or the L31 gen Altima, or general suggestions, it would be super appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

[swifttony]

You also need to replace the shocks. One that's suitable for offroading.

 

[RollinWOT]

You also need to replace the shocks. One that's suitable for offroading.

It was recently in an accident which damaged the rear suspension, so it has a new control arm, and 2 new dual-stage rear shocks. The rear of the car naturally sits about 3" lower than the front while dry. Add in passengers and gear, and you can see how low it really goes("do the limbo!"). I wouldn't really even say "offroading." It's more of a companion vehicle to get my kids and wife to the trailhead/campsite. The Ranger is what we really use offroad and for camping. My kids are young, so 2 carseats don't fit in the Ranger. I just want it to be a little more capable in the rough roads leading to the trailheads. Thanks!

 

[BLOODBANE]

A good set of AT tires will be your best bet, You said it had street tires and it got stuck in minor mud. If they are like the tires on our Challenger, it wouldnt take much mud to be stuck (they work great on the street though, which is what they were designed for). You wouldnt need to get super aggressive, just something to give that little extra bite.

 

[RollinWOT]

A good set of AT tires will be your best bet, You said it had street tires and it got stuck in minor mud. If they are like the tires on our Challenger, it wouldnt take much mud to be stuck (they work great on the street though, which is what they were designed for). You wouldnt need to get super aggressive, just something to give that little extra bite.

It's got a set of good, but street-only tread Toyo Extensas. The only tire I could find in my factory size(P215/60R16) was the Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S. If I can bump one aspect ratio up to a P216/65R16, I can fit a set of BFG T/A KO2s with 3-ply sidewall on it, which would be super awesome, but kind of overkill. We use the car as my wife's daily driver, but also frequently take it to the mountains where there are car friendly, but dirt/washboardy/muddy roads. I'm sure the Yokos could handle it.