I would still recommend pre drilling and countersinking. The typical application for these screws is durock or hardibacker. If you've ever put down hardibacker, you'd know it's real easy to crack the board. The siding isn't much better. It's easy to split that stuff.

Ribbed heads are designed to help that countersinking problem, and the self-drilling points solve the other.

Posted By ICFHybrid on 20 Aug 2012 02:13 PM
Ribbed heads are designed to help that countersinking problem, and the self-drilling points solve the other.

Have you installed cf siding on icf? For one, the siding is on an angle to the foam, so there is a lot of pressure on that top edge. Two, those screws are designed to install a flat piece to a flat piece, so the force will distribute evenly, which won't happen on the siding application. Three, even if the siding doesn't crack while driving these heads flush, the top edge of the siding will likely be over driven into the foam and cause a wavy apperance.

What's "cf"? Concrete Fiber?

If you are talking about HardiPlank over ICF, then, yes, I have.  Maybe that is another benefit to ARXX block in which the anchor strips are exposed and present a firm surface.  However, it did occur to me at the beginning that I would have to learn some new skill with the drill driver fast in order to make things look good.  If that didn't work for you, then maybe some kind of furring strips would be the answer.