The Particulars
At this writing, the F-C II comes in floatation sizes from 31x10.50R15LT to 40x13.50R20LT and metric sizes from LT265/75R16 to LT325/50R20. Some have a traditional 5- ply tread and 2-ply sidewall construction (1-ply nylon, 2-ply steel and 2-ply polyester on the tread, 2-ply polyester on the sidewall). Many are Specialty Light Truck (SLT) sizes that are more robust with 6-ply treads and 3- ply sidewalls. The latter, are the ones you’d pick for a more trail-oriented machine going out into harm’s way regularly. Load Ranges run from C to E, so all capacities of light trucks are covered. Most of the F-C II tires are “Q” speed rated (99 mph) but some of the larger sizes are “N” rated (87 mph).
The tread design is reminiscent of the old Fun Country (FC, get it?) style but has been modernized extensively for this new iteration. Notable changes are in the outside lugs and the addition of more siping. They also broke the center blocks of tread into smaller sections, which will make the tire more able in rocks but will also help channel water out on rain-slick roads.
Dick Cepek FC-II - The Application
The F-C II tires were fitted to “New Blue,” our ’05 F-150HD test mule. This truck, though in the half-ton class, has an 8,200 pound GVW so we needed a minimum of a Load Range D. A nifty set of wheels was also planned but we discovered that Ford’s oddball 7-lug wheels (currently used only on the high GVW F-150 trucks) limited our aftermarket wheels to just a few styles, none of which tickled our fancy. We were fortunate that the size of tire chosen, LT285/70R17 (a 33 inch equivalent) was within the rated rim width specification for the stock 7.5 x 17-inch rims. The tires fit the truck with no rubbing but we had previously installed Rancho’s Quick lift and RS-9000 shocks to level the truck and gain some ground clearance.
Spring and Summer
The F-C IIs perform very well on the highway. Braking and cornering are light years better than the factory 245/70R-17 General Grabber TRs they replaced. The ride is better too. The F-C IIs have one street downer... noise. Is the buzz as bad as a full blown mudder? No. Are they as quiet as a less aggressive AT? No. Of the several aggressive ATs we’ve experienced recently, however, the F-C IIs are among the more noisy. Wet traction is about average for the type of tread. It was actually better than we expected and we rate it better than the facto- ry all season tires. The correct tire pressure is important to wet weather traction, we discovered, the tires liking more rather than less air in this situation.
Fall and Winter
If you live in an area where the white stuff falls, you’ll find you can live with the F-C IIs. Snow and ice traction on the highway are good for it’s class. That’s not to say they will come close to besting a dedicated snow tire, or even an all-season tire, in the winter arena but they aren’t anywhere near the white knuckle experience a mudder can be. Predictably, the tires were very good in deep pow- der, both on and off the road. Slush and ice performance were both good... again in the context of a fairly aggressive tire. Like many pickups, ours is very light in the rear when empty and that makes for squirrelly handling no matter what tire is mounted. Our cure is to add 400 pounds of iron tractor weights in the bed behind the rear axle. That about ended the light throttle spinning on accel- eration for the F-C II, though it didn’t for the factory tires. Are you getting that we really didn’t like the factory tires? AVAILABLE AT: 4 Wheel Parts 800-284-9840 www.4WheelParts.com 4Wheel Drive Hardware 800-913-8205 www.4wd.com
Off Highway
This evaluation comes strictly from the types of terrain encountered in Northwest Ohio farm country. In packed grassy dirt while pulling a grain trailer and other implements out of the field, we found the trac- tion excellent. Loose dirt traction, such as a plowed field, was also good. Mud traction is excellent in its class. We did- n’t bury the truck in gumbo for the test, but the story was told while nonchalant- ly hauling firewood out of the woods in the wet fall, we later realized the tires had sunk five inches into the mud and had barely slipped hauling a load of firewood slightly uphill. We weren’t spin- ning the tires but they still threw out the mud very well. We had the chance to try out the tires in a rock quarry and a bit of rockcrawl- ing down a wet creekbed. We found them to be very flexible and able to conform well to the irregular surfaces. With lots of void areas and flexible tread blocks, the tires should perform well in more difficult rock crawling ter- rain as well but we would suggest the SLT sizes for the extra sidewall protec- tion if you are a dedicated rock runner.
