Like most things OEM, tires are a compromise on Cost to save Ford some money and meet the minimal requirements for that vehicle. Nearly all tire brands make make tires that will fit all vehicles with different features and quality.
If you want tires with a long tread life, you will generally sacrifice some wet weather traction. If you buy a tire with great wet weather traction, the softer tread compound will wear faster and give less tire tread life. If you buy a tire with an aggressive tread for off-road use, you will typically have a very noisy tire, etc.
You need to look at the tire ratings for Tread Wear, Traction, and Temperature. These ratings are molded into the sides of the tire. The higher the Tread Wear number, the longer the tread should last.
Traction is for Wet Weather traction and is rated A: is the best, B: is OK or so-so?, and C: is the worst. It is difficult to find A-rated Traction tires for trucks and they are typically significantly more expensive. I had Goodyear AquaTreads for trucks/SUVs on one of my Sport Tracs and they were great in the rain !!
Temperature is the ranking for the tires ability to withstand the buildup of heat. Again, A: is the best if you live in a very hot climate. B: is about normal, especially for truck tires, C: is the worst and I would never use a C Temperature tire here in Texas, but truck/SUV tires often only come in B or C temperature ratings.
Assuming that you are getting at least a B-Temperature rated tire, you must decide if Tread Wear or Traction is what you want in a tire. Also remember that if you buy a good/great wet weather traction tire, the traction will gradually diminish as the tread wears since the softer rubber compounds are often only used on the outer most part of the tread. So they start out with great traction, but that falls off after you wear down to the harder rubber for the better tread wear.
Another alternative is to get a long Tread Wear tire and have it siped. Thats where they use a special machine to cut a series of diagonal lines across the treads which gives the larger blocks of tread more flexibility and better grip. I had a set of Wranglers siped ($10 per tire) and it did improve braking and corning traction from poor to minimally acceptable IMO.
Rich
