Best tires for the Ford Excursion
Top picks across four categories for the Ford Excursion, anchored to the current-generation OEM size 265/75R16. Every recommendation is selected from our 22,000-tire catalog by ranking on UTQG treadwear, mileage warranty, cabin-noise rating, and season class; no commission-weighted reordering.
Daily driver
Best all-season touring
Long warranty, low noise, balanced ride. The one-tire compromise that works for 80% of owners.
Pirelli
Scorpion all terrain plus
UTQG 600 with a 50,000-mile warranty; long-wear all-season compound built for the daily-driver mileage profile typical for Ford Excursion owners.
BFGoodrich
All-Terrain T/A KO2
Reinforced sidewall all-season compound; balanced ride, grip, and tread life for everyday driving.
Milestar
Patagonia M/T
Reinforced sidewall all-season compound; balanced ride, grip, and tread life for everyday driving.
Bridgestone
Blizzak DM V2 265/75R16
Touring-tuned all-season compound; balanced ride, grip, and tread life for everyday driving.
Lowest cost per mile
Best budget
Best price-per-warranty-mile in this size. Trade-off is shorter warranty vs premium options, not safety.
Michelin
Defender LTX M/S
Lowest sticker price in this size that still meets the OEM load index. Trade-off is shorter warranty vs premium options.
BFGoodrich
Advantage T/A sport LT
Lowest sticker price in this size that still meets the OEM load index. Trade-off is shorter warranty vs premium options.
Toyo
Open country H/T II
Lowest sticker price in this size that still meets the OEM load index. Trade-off is shorter warranty vs premium options.
Yokohama
Geolandar H/T G056
Lowest sticker price in this size that still meets the OEM load index. Trade-off is shorter warranty vs premium options.
Lowest cabin noise
Best quiet
Tread patterns engineered to break up the harmonic peaks that cause highway droning. Pick this if you commute long highway distances daily.
Pirelli
Scorpion all terrain plus
73 dB cabin-noise rating per the EU tire label; well below the segment median. Tread pattern engineered to break up the harmonic peaks that cause highway droning.
BFGoodrich
All-Terrain T/A KO2
75 dB cabin-noise rating per the EU tire label; still quieter than most competitors in this size. Tread pattern engineered to break up the harmonic peaks that cause highway droning.
Side-by-side
Pick the trade-off that matches your driving
| All-season Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus | Best budget Michelin Defender LTX M/S |
|
|---|---|---|
| UTQG treadwear | 600 | 800 |
| Mileage warranty | 50,000 mi | - |
| Cabin noise | 73 dB | - |
| Season class | all-season | - |
| Type | truck-suv | - |
OEM tire sizes by year
What size does the ford excursion use?
Recommendations on this page are anchored to the latest model-year's OEM size. Confirm yours against the driver-door placard before purchase.
| Year | OEM size | |
|---|---|---|
| 1999–2005 | 265/75R16 | Year-specific fitment → |
How we ranked these tires for the ford excursion
We started with the latest model-year's OEM tire size; 265/75R16; and filtered our catalog of 22,000+ tires to those offered in that exact size. From there, four parallel rankings:
- Best all-season ranks on a weighted score: tire type matches performance car segment, season is "all-season", premium brand bonus (Michelin / Continental / Bridgestone / Pirelli / Goodyear / Nokian).
- Best budget ranks on cost-per-warranty-mile; the lower the better. Premium brands get no bonus here.
- Best quiet ranks on the EU tire-label dB rating; lower is quieter.
- Best winter filters to tires marked 3PMSF severe-snow rated or all-weather class, with a small premium-brand bonus because winter-compound R&D is capital-intensive.
Performance trims trade tread life for grip. Expect summer-class compounds to wear 15,000–25,000 miles vs 50,000+ for all-season touring. The all-season recommendation below is the daily-driver compromise; the budget pick saves money for owners who want the same compound class without the brand premium. Use the side-by-side comparison above to weigh the trade-offs against your specific driving; highway-heavy, winter-state, performance-oriented, or budget-constrained.
NHTSA-reported issues for ford excursion
Top issue category: Tires (General)
Reported across: 2005 – 2005 (1 year)
What owners described
Blowout or sudden deflation appears in 35% of these reports; about 1.7× as often as across all tire complaints. Percentages are shares of the 203 reports covering every model year of the Ford Excursion that include a written account; a single report can describe more than one problem, so they do not total 100%.
| Reported problem | This subject | All tire complaints | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blowout or sudden deflation | 35% | 20% | 1.7× |
| Sidewall failure | 21% | 15% | 1.4× |
| Tread or belt separation | 15% | 13% | 1.1× |
| Loss of control, rollover or collision | 9% | 8% | 1.1× |
| Cracking or dry rot | 6% | 9% | 0.7× |
| Bubble or bulge in the tire | 4% | 6% | 0.8× |
Mileage at failure
56 of these reports state an odometer reading. The middle report is at 30,000 miles, with 8 in 10 falling between 3,000 and 104,027 miles.
In owners' own words
Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA about Ford Excursion. Reports are published by NHTSA as filed and are lightly cleaned here only to remove intake codes.
THE CONTACT OWNS A 2000 FORD EXCURSION EQUIPPED WITH FIRESTONE TIRES, TIRE LINE: STEEL TEX RADIAL A/T, TIRE SIZE: LT 265/75R16. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 60 MPH ON A DIRT ROAD, THE REAR DRIVER'S SIDE TIRE EXPLODED. THE CONTACT PULLED OVER TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND DISCOVERED THAT THE TREAD WAS SEPARATED FROM THE TIRE. THE TIRE WAS NOT REPLACED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 190,000 AND THE TIRE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 200. THE DOT NUMBER WAS VNW81XL049. DJR
I HAVE A SET OF AUTOGUARD TIRES SIZE 265/78/16 THAT WERE INSTALLED ON MY SUV APX NOVEMBER OF 2013 IN OCTOBER OF 2014 THE TIRES STARTED TO DEVELOPED CRACK ALONG THE BEAD LINE ABOVE THE RIM. THIS IS THE SAME EFFECT OR DEFECT THAT RESULTED IN THE RECALL OF AUTOGUARD TIRE SIZE 245/75/16. BOTH THE TIRE THAT WERE THE SUBJECT OF THE RECALL AS WELL AS THE TIRES THAT WERE INSTALL ON MY SUV WERE MANUFACTURES IN THE SAME TIME PERIOD AND I BELIEVE HAVE THE SAME DOT NO OF 4412.
THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 FORD EXCURSION EQUIPPED WITH B.F. GOODRICH RUGGED TERRAIN (NA), TIRE LINE: LT26575R16 LOAD RANGER E (NA) TIRES. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE TREAD SEPARATED ON THE REAR PASSENGER SIDE TIRE. THE TIRE WAS NOT REPLACED. THE TIRE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 24,000 AND THE VEHICLE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 98,000.
THE CONTACT OWNS A 2002 FORD EXCURSION EQUIPPED WITH SUNFULL MONT-PRO HT781 TIRES, SIZE: LT265/75/16. WHILE DRIVING 65 MPH, THE VEHICLE VIBRATED ABNORMALLY. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC TO BE DIAGNOSED. THE CONTACT WAS INFORMED THAT THE REAR PASSENGER SIDE TIRE TREAD SEPARATED, WHICH CAUSED A BUBBLE IN THE TIRE. WITHIN LESS THAN A THOUSAND MILES LATER, THE FRONT DRIVER'S TIRE ALSO EXPERIENCED THE FAILURE. THE RETAIL FACILITY WHERE THE TIRES WERE SOLD AND INSTALLED WAS NOT CONTACTED. THE TIRE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE VIN WAS UNKNOWN. THE APPROXIMATE VEHICLE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 166,000 AND THE TIRE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 4,999.
Complaints are voluntarily submitted to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation and are not verified by NHTSA; they represent owner-reported problems, not proven defects. Counts can be useful as a relative quality signal across comparable tires or vehicles.
Tire recalls & safety complaints for the Ford Excursion →
FAQ
What's the best all-season tire for the Ford Excursion?
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Last verified 2026-10-07.