Dick Cepek-Extreme Country (255/85/16) review

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Joshua

Rank I
Launch Member

Traveler I

233
Georgia
Member #

10852

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My 2002 Tacoma desperately needed new tires after a 2 inch lift and the geolandars that it came from the stealership with were showing some age. The date code was from 2010 and dry rot was already starting to show in the tread and some on the sides of the tire.

I guess i'm comparing these new Dick Cepek's to 8 year old street tires so keep that in mind with the review.

Road manners- After the install of the Extreme Countries I could already tell a difference in the handling of the truck with it being a larger tire, and acceleration but that's expected. They don't pull the truck all over the road like I've experienced with other tires and handle very well in the turns as long as they are taken at a proper speed. These tires are 10ply and as such I'm running about 50psi in each tire, but with the new suspension I have just installed the ride isn't much different than my street tires and hitting bumps at speed is much smoother (Thanks Bilstien 6112's)

Road noise- These are some of the most aggressive tires I've ran and the noise level is very tolerable in a well sound proofed vehicle. Example, my Tacoma is still more quiet in the cab then my girlfriends jeep patriot on small wimpy street tires. The noise level is most noticeable around 65-70 but I can still easily maintain a conversation and hear the radio without having to blast it.

MPG- I haven't noticed a large decrease in MPG like I was expecting. I'm still getting close to 300 miles per tank. Which for me is excellent considering the aggressive tread of the tire and it being a larger size.

Off-road capability- This weekend I put these tires to the test in some mud while going across the Georgia Traverse, and they handled every bit of terrain well. Especially in loose mud where my friends 30% or less mud terrains had trouble climbing a loose dirt and mud incline these tires walked right up with the large gaps in the knobs grabbing and tossing whatever they could.
(I also had a rear locker,my friend didn't)

Price- The price point on these tires were perfect for me as I'm basically a budget overlander, everything I own is the pretty much the cheap version of much more notable brands (Smitty built RTT, Plano boxes, etc)
700.00 bucks shipped was a great price for four of them. less than 200 a tire is always nice in the off-road world, especially considering its a larger tire and a rare size that isn't offered by many brands.

As of right now I can't judge the tread life, but with the experience I've had so far if they last me
50,000 miles I would purchase them again.

Thanks for reading my first gear review!

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BCBrian

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Launch Member

Advocate III

1,836
Boulder Creek, CA
Member #

3344

Good looking tires! I would suggest that you do the chalk test and adjust your tire pressure down to help extend the life of these tires. At 50 PSI you are going to wear the center of the tread out quickly. Just looking at your pictures, you can see that the tread is not flat on the ground.

I run my 285's at 36 PSI and with 27000 miles on them, they are wearing pretty evenly.

Good Luck!
 

Joshua

Rank I
Launch Member

Traveler I

233
Georgia
Member #

10852

Good looking tires! I would suggest that you do the chalk test and adjust your tire pressure down to help extend the life of these tires. At 50 PSI you are going to wear the center of the tread out quickly. Just looking at your pictures, you can see that the tread is not flat on the ground.

I run my 285's at 36 PSI and with 27000 miles on them, they are wearing pretty evenly.

Good Luck!
I lowered them to 36psi and it does ride and look better as far as tread wear goes. Thanks!
 

Kyle & Kari Frink

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Launch Member

Pathfinder II

4,387
San Diego, California
Member #

6376

@Joshua I can attest to this statement for sure! The wife's Jeep runs these tires just in the 35x12.5x15 and I completely agree with your assessment, I will also say that we have had multiple different brands of tires ranging from Mickey Thompson to Pro Comps and these are definitely the best so far. They have handled like a champ off-road in every condition you could think of since we wheel off-road pretty hard and often. No problems with ours and we have had them for coming up on 15,000 miles give or take. The only problem we had as hitting a tree root(horn) straight to the tire side wall and the way it happen I think in any case(any brand of tire) would have had a blowout as well.
 

Smileyshaun

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Member III

2,779
Happy Valley, OR, USA
First Name
Shaun
Last Name
Hoffman
Member #

4799

I just put a set of 35x12.5015 on my tahoe and so far am super impressed with them, for as big as the lugs are I would consider them almost silent, I've had at tires with more road noise .
 
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