Dick Cepek Radial F-C II

The Dick Cepek FCII is truly a year-round, all terrain tire. It"s proven to be a good balance of features and performance and delivers good performance in any venue

In the August 2009 issue of ORA we gave you a four season, 5,200 mile test of the then-new Dick Cepek FCII all-terrains. We thought them worthy of a follow up review another 18 months and 12,000 miles down the road because we think we"ve got a winner here!
To recap the general description, the Dick Cepek FCII is an all terrain that"s on the aggressive side in its class. It comes in popular floatation sizes up to a 40-incher and a huge array of Metric LT sizes in load ranges from C to E. Some of the Specialty Light Truck sizes feature 6-ply treads and three-ply sidewalls (vs 5 and 2). They all share a tread design that"s reminiscent of the old Cepek Fun Country design but with many enhancements, especially to the outside lugs and the addition of lots more siping.

Performance
Our performance review of FCII performance is the same as it was back in "09... excellent! On the street, our LT 285/70R-17 tires have done their duty in the ordinary situations all of us encounter. There have been a few above-the-call-of-duty situations, like a high speed avoidance maneuver, some emergency stops, a couple of curbs and a 50 mph encounter with a piece of somebody"s furniture. These the FCIIs handled all with aplomb.
Considering the open tread, we are particularly impressed with the wet weather and snow/ice street performance. They can"t match a dedicated winter or all-season tire in those venues but, in their class, they have been great. You need not fear the liquid sunshine nor the white stuff with these tires.
The FCIIs are installed on a work/farm truck, not a trail rig. They have carried 3,200 pound loads and they have pulled loaded grain wagons out of the fields. They have hauled firewood out of the forest, enduring stumps and brambles. They have dragged the truck through that clingy, NW Ohio clay. The FCIIs have encountered snow up to the front bumper and pulled the truck through. The truck doesn"t go “off-roading,” per say, but sometimes the work is the equivalent of that. We"ve given up hoping it will get through, and now simply expect it to... with no drama. Based on our experience, we"d expect these tires to be in the top tier of their class on a more trail-oriented rig. Our one gripe with the tire remains noise. If tire noise is an issue for you, bear in mind that the FCII is not a class leader in that department.

The proof is in the pudding. Well, in the halfway frozen hand holding the tire tread depth tool. The FCII is a great wearing tire. In roughly 17,000 miles, the tires are showing roughly 4/32-inch wear, some 2/32 occurring the first 5,200 miles.

Wear
The tire started off new with an 18/32 tread depth. In the 5,200 miles covered for the first test, they wore down to a uniform 16/32 in that time. Tire experts say a tire wears more in its first few thousand miles than it does later as it breaks in and the compound hardens. This is proven to be true in our case. In the intervening roughly 12,000 miles, they"ve worn down to a hair over 14/32. With the wear bars at 3/32”, that leaves 15/32 to use legally. Using 4/32 over 17K miles works out to at 4,255 miles per 32nd of an inch, if wear holds at that, it bodes well for a long life, perhaps as far as 60K. We"ll take it! Long life for any tire revolves around maintenance and you could say the owner of this truck is a bit anal about that, so, to be honest, you"re seeing a best case scenario here.
Tire pressure is the first and cheapest life-preserver. To promote fuel economy, we are now running these tires and the equivalent of the OE max-load tire pressure found on the placard. Because the tires are larger and have more volume, they need less actual pressure to carry the same load, 38/44 psi vs 50/60 (for the OE LT245/70R17). Next comes rotation. We have five of these tires, which adds to potential life, being able to cycle that fifth tire in. In the 17K miles of use, we have rotated these tires three times, twice front to back and once in an “X.” That may seem excessive (gotta live up to that anal rep, after all) but when the tire wear is exactly the same on all four tires, you know you"re doing good. On a pickup, with inadequate rotation, you"d see a lot more wear on the heavily loaded front tires than you would in back. Alignment is the final piece of the puzzle and that has been done once when the Rancho Quick lift was installed at about the same time as the tires.

Bottom Line
The FCII is a lot of tire for the money. Ours have served us very well in the two-plus years they"ve been installed. If an all-terrain is in your future, you"ll be doing yourself a disservice if you don"t include this tire in your list of choices.