Best Tires for Ford F-150

Which are the best tires for the Ford F-150? That depends on who you ask. When Ford built your F-150, they tried to strike a balance between cost, treadwear, fuel economy, and performance. Your priorities when shopping for tires may be different, so you’ll want to understand what’s available to you when it comes time to buy new tires.

The F-150 can be a tricky beast to buy tires for, because there are several different trims, wheel sizes, and tire types for each. The 2020 model year F-150 alone can be ordered in seven different trims: XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch, Raptor, Platinum, and Limited. Within those trim levels, there are several wheel options available, and each one can have its own tire size. Let’s take a look at some of the best choices for each:

Have an older Ford F-150? See tire sizes for previous years.

Best Tires for the Ford F-150 XL, XLT:

Michelin Defender LTX M/S: Best All Season

The Michelin Defender is really an all-season highway tire aimed at F-150 drivers who don’t ever drive their vehicles off-road. If you’re looking for extreme performance, this ain’t it, but it’s a good choice if you drive a pickup like a sedan.

BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A K02: Best All Terrain

The BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A K02 is the king of all-terrain tires for a reason. It’s been tested not only in the lab, but over thousands of miles of competition. There are tires that do certain things better, but there aren’t many that offer this all-around performance at this price.

Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza Plus: Best All Around

The Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza Plus is anything but a “dueler.” It’s a fairly conventional highway tire with the white letters on the side to convince you it’s got some off-road chops.

Best Tires for the Ford F-150 Lariat, King Ranch:

Pirelli Scorpion All-Terrain Plus: Best All Season Tire

The Pirelli Scorpion All-Terrain Plus isn’t really an all-terrain tire. If you’re after that, there are better choices. But for an all-season tire -- especially one that’s going to get you through the winter -- they’re pretty great.

Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure with Kevlar: Best All Terrain Tire

Aside from the BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A, the Goodyear Wrangler is probably the best known all-terrain tire, and it’s for a reason. They’re more highway focused than off-road focused, but they still do really well off the beaten track.

Michelin Agilis CrossClimate: Best All Around Tire

These are highway-oriented, all-season tires and shouldn’t be confused with all-terrain tires. That said, if you spend most of your time on the highway (the way most people do) the Michelin is a very good alternative to the direct replacements.

Best Tires for the Ford F-150 Platinum:

BFGoodrich Advantage T/A Sport LT: Best All Season Tire

The Advantage T/A Sport LT is the truck equivalent of the Advantage T/A sedan and SUV tires. If you have no aspirations of going off road, this is an outstanding tire that will provide excellent wet braking and cornering characteristics.

Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo 3: Best All Terrain Tire

The Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo 3 is another tire that kind of looks like it would be aggressive off-road, but is really best suited to mostly asphalt driving.

Michelin Premier LTX M/S2: Best All Around Tire

This is kind of the pinnacle of truck-based all-season tires that aren’t designed for off-road. They’re really designed to improve the handling and braking of your F-150 on the highway and around town.

Best Tires for the Ford F-150 Limited:

General Grabber ATP: Best All Season Tire

People need to shop General tires more often. Their Grabber line offers both off-road oriented tires, and tires like the ATP, which is more highway/all-season based.

Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S: Best All Terrain Tire

People who bought the Cooper Discoverer AT3 seem to love them. They’re a really good all-around choice for the F-150.

Continental TerrainContact HT: Best All Around Tire

The Continental TerrainContact HT is definitely an all-season tire rather than an all-terrain performer, but it does surprisingly well in a range of conditions.

Original Equipment F-150 Tires

What tires are on my Ford F-150? The current generation Ford F-150 crossover is sold in multiple trims with four tire sizes. Below, we’ve listed the tires that come as original equipment on each Ford F-150 model. It’s worth noting that the F-150 can be ordered with several optional wheels, so the sizes you see below may not all apply to the specific model, and may apply to one of the available custom wheel sizes that match the standard wheel size:

• The XL and XLT trims come with 17-inch wheels. The original equipment tires are Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT tires, sized 265/70R17 115T.
• The Lariat and King Ranch trims come with 18-inch wheels. The original equipment tires are one of three models: Pirelli Scorpion ATR, Michelin Primacy XC, or the Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT. All tires are sided 275/65R18 116T.
• The Platinum trim comes with 20-inch wheels. The original equipment tires are one of four models: Michelin LTX M/S2, Hankook Dynapro AT2, Hankook Dynapro AT-M, or the Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure with Kevlar. All tires are sized 275/55R20 113T.
• The Limited trim comes with 22-inch wheels. The original equipment tires are one of two models: Pirelli Scorpion Zero Asimmetrico or the Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season. Both tires are sized 275/45R22 112V XL.

Top Replacement Tire Brands for Ford F-150

We’ve recommended three replacement tires in both 17- and 18-inch sizes, in budget, moderately priced and cost-no-object varieties. Whether your pockets are deeper than the Mariana trench or Ebenezer Scrooge considers you a role model, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. All of these tires have ratings of four-stars or higher based on consumer surveys:

17-inch Tires for Ford F-150 ((XL, XLT trim)

• Budget: Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season Plus - The Pirellis are priced very reasonably and offer excellent treadwear and speed ratings. It should be noted that older versions sell for much less than new ones and have many of the same features
• Moderately Priced: General Grabber A/TX - Though it’s technically an off-road/all terrain tire, the Grabber A/TX is versatile enough to use on the road.
• Cost-No-Object: Michelin Defender LTX M/S - You’ll pay for the privilege of having them on your truck, but the Defender is one of the best all around tires on the market today.

18-inch Tires for Ford F-150 (Lariat, King Ranch trims)

• Budget: Kumho Road Venture AT51 - Kumho is an excellent brand that makes high-quality tires for an extremely reasonable price. The Road Venture has excellent customer ratings and an all terrain construction that makes them excellent for light off-roading.
• Moderately Priced: Goodyear Wrangler Trailrunner AT - Though its rugged construction makes it ideal for driving in loose dirt or gravel, the Trailrunner is designed to perform well on the road. It’s not designed for heavy snow or ice, though, so be aware that you’ll need a separate set of dedicated winter tires
• Cost-No-Object: Michelin Premier LTX - Michelin is one of the largest tire companies and has a model for most occasions. The Premier LTX is rated Excellent in Wet, Dry, and Comfort. This tire is not the longest lasting, but instead is focused on being the best.

20-inch Tires for Ford F-150 (Platinum trim)

• Budget: Sumitomo Encounter HT - Sumitomo may not be a household name for everyone, but the company has been quietly churning out solid tires for a long time now. The Encounter HT has an excellent treadlife rating, spectacular customer reviews, and an all-season design that should serve most F-150 owners well.
• Moderately Priced: Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza Plus - The Dueler H/L Alenza Plus is a great tire for buyers that want a little extra fuel economy to go with their all season tire. The Dueler H/L Alenza Plus has great customer reviews and are rated to handle all of the loads that your F-150 can tackle.
• Cost-No-Object: Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo 3/Michelin LTX M/S2 - We’ll give this one to a tie between these two Bridgestone and Michelin tires. The Bridgestone is more of an off-road/all terrain tire, but is still well-reviewed for on-road use.

22-inch Tires for Ford F-150 (Limited trim)

• Budget: Pirelli Scorpion Zero Asimmetrico - Though it’s an OE tire for the F-150 with 22-inch wheels, the Pirelli Scorpion Zero Asimmetrico has excellent reviews, a solid treadlife rating, and a strong enough load rating to stand up to the abuse that truck owners put their vehicles through on a regular basis.
• Moderately Priced: Michelin Premier LTX - There’s not a ton of choice in the 22-inch tire space, but thankfully the choices that are available are excellent. The Michelin Premier LTX is one of the better tires available today, and has excellent customer ratings. Buying from an online retailer like Tire Rack usually yields a decent discount for these particular tires, as they’re currently on sale with up to a $150 rebate.
• Cost-No-Object: Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S - The Cooper Discoverer is the most highly-rated 22-inch tire we could find for sale today. It’s got an excellent treadlife rating, a sturdy load rating, and is available with a variety of discounts and rebates.

When Should You Replace Tires?

There are two regular milestones that will suggest that it’s time to replace the tires, not only on your F-150, but any vehicle in your driveway: Time and mileage.

Considering most drivers cover between 12,000 and 15,000 miles per year, the vast majority of F-150 owners are going to be past the mileage that their original equipment tires were intended to cover before they’ll go past the tire’s usable age.

The life of your tire can be somewhat predicted by its UTQG (Uniform Tire Quality Grade) rating. Tire manufacturers apply their own grades to tires for treadwear, traction and temperature. When you’re researching tires online, a UTQG will come up next to the tire name in three digits and a number (ex. 500 A A).

You can glean a bit of info from the tires by reading this rating:

• 500 - The durability rating of a tire, compared to a control tire with a tread life of 100. To obtain a grade, tires run on a 640 kilometer course for 11,520 km. Every 1,280 km, the tread depth is measured, to provide a projected tread life. The higher the number, the longer the predicted treadlife.
• A - This is the Traction rating of a tire, which indicates how well a tire stops in wet conditions. The highest letter grade is AA, followed by A, B and C.
• A - The second letter in the UTQG is the Temperature rating, which indicates how well a tire holds up to extreme heat. A is the highest, followed by B and C.

Original equipment Bridgestone Ecopia tires on the F-150 earn a solid 700 AA UTGQ rating. Unless they are damaged, these tires could last as long as 70,000 miles before you need to replace them.

The other consideration is time. Each tire has a raised date code on the sidewall. The number begins with the letters “DOT” followed by 12 digits in three four-digit groups. The date code is the third group of four digits. To decipher the date of your tires, the first two digits represent the WEEK the tire was produced, and the second two digits represent the YEAR.

For example, if your tire’s date code is 3217, that indicates the tire was manufactured in the 37th week of 2017, or some time between September 11 and 17th that year.

Once tires go beyond five years old, it’s time to consider replacing them. Tires are made up not just of rubber and steel or kevlar belts, but chemicals that help the tires resist UV rays, temperature changes and a lot of other environmental hazards. Those chemicals start to break down after five years or so, and the tires aren’t doing the job that they need to do.

Why Not Replace with Original Ford Equipment Tires?

There’s no harm in replacing your tires with the shoes it came with from the factory. However, depending on what kind of driver you are, there are significant reasons to purchase something different.

You only need to purchase ONE set of tires for your car every four years or so, depending on how much you drive. When an auto manufacturer purchases tires, they buy them by the hundreds of thousands. For the manufacturer, the decision to choose a supplier one brand or another comes down to a price point.

For you, your consideration may be completely different. If you could get a tire that stopped 20 feet shorter for an additional $10 per tire over the original equipment, you’d probably do it. Similarly, if there was a tire that made less road noise for a minimal investment over stock, you’d probably decide on the slightly more expensive tire (that is, unless you’re trying to drown out the conversation of your back-seat-driving spouse.)

Changing Ford F-150 Tire Sizes

Depending on the year and model, you may be shopping tires to fit anything between 15-inch for older models to 18-inch wheels with various widths and sidewall sizes along the way. It is possible to change the wheel and tire sizes, but a general rule of thumb is to keep the total diameter of wheel and tire the same. So, that means that downsizing an 18-inch wheel to a 17-inch wheel would include a proportionate upsizing of the tire sidewall to compensate.

Downsizing wheels has its advantages. Benefits include:

• Better ride quality – More rubber means more cushion for poor road conditions.
• Cost reduction – Big tires are expensive, so moving to a smaller wheel size will mean less costly tire purchases.
• Seasonal changes – Winter and snow tires are available for a larger selection of smaller wheel sizes and the narrower footprint will provide better traction.
• Off-road – Many people choose to downsize wheels for off-road use to increase the vehicle’s shock absorption capabilities and bump traction on loose surfaces.

On the other side of the coin, going up in wheel size has its benefits:

• Better handling – Slimmer profile tires makes for less rubber to move around.
• Better looks – This one’s subjective, but many people feel that larger wheels look better than smaller wheels with more rubber.
• Better braking – Larger, wider wheels provide a bigger patch of rubber on the ground to slow the vehicle, reducing braking distance.

How to Read Tire Sizes

When reading tire sizes, it’s important to understand what the numbers mean. The Ford F-150’s 17-inch wheels come with 235/65R17 103H all-season tires:

• 235 - indicates the width of the tire from one sidewall to the other in millimeters. This tire is 235 millimeters wide.
• 65 - indicates the aspect ratio, or sidewall height, as a percentage of the tire’s width. In this case, it’s 50 percent or of the tire’s width.
• R - means radial tires. Radials are the most common type of automotive tire and have fabric woven in at various angles with tread that is strengthened with additional layers of rubber.
• 17 - indicates the wheel diameter.
• 103 - is the tire’s load rating.
• H - is the tire’s speed rating. H-rated tires have a maximum top speed of 130 mph.

You may have noticed that the Ford F-150’s two tire sizes have different diameters and also different aspect ratios. Generally, automakers choose tires that have the same outer diameter. This allows them to have only one speedometer setting.

Now that you know what comes on the new F-150 and how to read the size numbers, let’s look at the different types of tires available to you. Depending on the type of driving you’re doing, where you live, and the weather, you have a variety of choices for tire types:

• Touring and All-season tires - provide a smooth ride, good wet and dry traction, decent winter traction, and longer tread life. These tires are acceptable for winter use but can’t be expected to provide the traction and stopping power that a dedicated winter tire can.
• Performance tires - are focused on providing confident handling, better wet and dry traction, and a sporty feel. Their higher grip and speed ratings come with a tradeoff of shortened tread life and reduced ride quality.
• All-terrain tires - are built to maximize off-road traction and provide good durability overall. Their construction means more noise and less comfort on the road, but winter traction and tread wear is acceptable.
• Winter and snow tires - are made with special rubber compounds that maintain grip and pliability when temperatures drop. They are also built with special tread patterns to maximize the vehicle’s ability to start and stop on very slippery roads.

Tire Sizes By Year