looking for some reccommendations on what tires to get for my 2006 Ram 2500 6-speed Big Horn 5.7. stock 17" wheels no lift or anything. all stock except exhaust.

Most of my driving is pavement. some snow some offroad hunting/fishing. want something that looks and performs well on and off road.
I've narrowed it down to getting either Dick Cepek FC-IIs or Nitto Terra grapplers.
trying to decide on size also 33/12.5/17 is available in both.would consider the 285/70/17 in the cepeks. Or the 285/75/17 or 305/70/17 are available in the nittos.
what do you guys think?

 

Between those tire choices, personally I would go with the 285 FCII's. Are they load range E (I didnt think they were)?

 

I do not have any experience with Dick Cepek tires, however, Nitto is a fancy Toyo... They performed very well in light offroad, and especially on-road. I used them as an all-season in northern Alberta's winters and they performed very well. I do believe they are available in LR-E... not sure if a 2500 needs E or not.

I'm using BFG-AT/KOs and I'm quite happy with them too. I have not used them in winter... We switched to a true winter tire last year as the BFGs needed to be replaced, and the wife was our only driver. It was her call.. we'll be putting them on again next month.

 

I own both, FCIIs on my truck (35x12.5x17, load range "D") and Terra Grapplers on my Jeep (31.5x10.5x17, load range "C").

The FCIIs are an AT/MT hybrid and have the center tread of an A/T and the inner/outer blocks and sidebiters of an M/T. They handle dry roads well, are about average for an A/T on wet pavement. Great off-road tire that will hang with all but the super aggressive mudders. Wear has been excellent so far, about 10-15% down after 32k miles. I'd expect to see 60k + out of these tires, but all Mickey Thompson/Dick Cepek tires get very long life and cost $$$.
The only real downside to these tires is that they are LOUD on pavement, as loud as most true mudders.

The Terra Grapps are a true A/T tire and as such handle on pavement a little bit better than the FCIIs. These may be the single best wet pavement tire I've ever owned. Trail use is very good, but as an A/T once any mud gets very deep, they are a bit out of their league. The small, tight tread pattern and heavy siping that makes them handle so well on pavement tends to clog up with mud pretty quick and won't sling it off like those great big side lugs of the FCIIs do.
A big plus on the road is that they are about as quiet as your average passenger car tire. Wear has been very good, but not in the same league as the Cepeks. At 18k they are showing about the same amount of wear as the Cepeks at 32k. I expect these to be about a 40k tire on my Jeep which is my daily driver...

 

I'm leaning towards the Cepeks in the 285/70/17. I just hope they seem big enough for the look I want. the 285/70/17 is load range D but 3195 max load. where the 33/12.5 is load D with 2600 max load.
wish I could go just a litttle bigger, but the next size up is the 35x12.5 and I dont think those will fit without a lift.
I like the 305/70/17 size of the Nittos but am a little worried about tread life on them.
I'm just about to make my last payment on this truck and plan on keeping it for quite a while yet.
how do these two tires compare for winter driving on the snow and ice?

 

"D" is fine for a 2500 gasser, now if it was a diesel I'd go "E", but the "D" tire is gonna exceed your max weight anyway. "E" tires don't have much give and tend to be harsh UNLESS you are hauling.

I live in the deep south, so I can't give you first hand, BUT I grew up in upstate NY so I know about what to look for in a snow tire.

Both will be good, not great if comparing to a true "snow tire". But the things that make the FCII better wearing (harder compound) and a better off-road performer (larger blocks with larger voids) count against it in snow/ice UNLESS we are talking deep, unpacked snow where it would do VERY WELL.
For shallow, hard packed snow and especially ice, you want as much tread contact as possible (that's why snowmobiles work so well, one big tread, all in constant contact). So smaller blocks (which means more of them) with tiny voids (spaces between blocks) and LOTS of small slits (siping) that keep sections of the blocks from lifting off the surface are the big benefit here. That spells TERRA GRAPPLER.
Now I'm not saying the FCIIs would be a poor snow tire, just that the Grapplers would be better, at least on hard packed surfaces and ice. In deep snow, the same qualities that would make it a good ice tire would hurt it, as just like in mud, the small voids make it almost impossible to sling the snow out of them and keep them from getting packed.
As a rule of thumb, the better a tire is in mud, the worse it would be on hard packed snow and ice and vice-versa. True Mud Terrain tires are generally VERY POOR snow/ice tires. What the FCIIs have going for them is that they are a AT/MT hybrid and have positive qualities of both.

There is no one "magic tire" that is gonna be great in all aspects, because as I said, things that make it strong at one thing count against it at another. This is originally why All Terrain tires were created, they are basically a compromise between a dedicated, soccer-mom, road only tire and an off-road tire. In this case the Terra Grappler is a perfect example. The FCIIs are basically the next scale up, they bridge the differences between a true All-Terrain and a true Mud-Terrain tire, so they lose more of the road-friendly, soccer-mom characteristics than the Terra Grapps do in favor of more features tailored for dedicated off-road use.

I hope I'm helping make your decision easier, but I fear I'm making it harder.

I'll throw this at you as well to cloud things up more. If your apprehension with the Terra Grapps is longevity, look at the Mickey Thompson STZ (same company as Dick Cepek). It is essentially the SAME TREAD as the Nitto Terra Grappler, but I've got a LOT of history with Cepek & Mickey Thompson tires and I've not had ANY not last me less than 68k miles yet (and that's because I sold the truck when the tires had 68k on them, they still had decent tread on them). Also the ATZ is a proven All Terrain tire. I have a good buddy with them on his truck and he's at 80k miles on them and they still look to have 10-15k miles in them yet...

 

I really appreciate your input. still thinking it over but I'll be going into the local shop on Monday to order something up. they gave me good price quotes on both.
thinking Dick Cepeks in the 33x12.5x17 right now. I wonder how these will do with towing my boat or pulling a 20' trailer full of lumber a couple times a year.. I still like the fact that the Nittos in 305/70/17 would be about an inch taller and are E rated. gah I cant decide lol.

 

Its a good thing most tires are black eh? Could you imagine if you had to get a colour preference in there too?

 

Well, I think with a 2500 you can clear the 34s, but remember clearing and having useful room to flex when towing/hauling is two different things.
I wouldn't think of "E" on a 1500, but you should have at least a "D" or "E". I've pulled about 7700# with my "D" Cepeks and they are more than adequate.

I don't think you can go wrong with either tire, they are both up near their respective classes...

 

With all the great tire choices out there, what made you narrow it down to these 2. If you don't mind me asking, what prices were you quoted?