I never thought I'd say that I found a worse tire than the Generals that came on my '99 Expedition, but I have. The Continentals that came on my 2003 are horrible. It's rained here for a number of days and wet traction is nonexistent. I'd even go as far as stating the tires are dangerous. Very frequent wheel spins when taking off (not flooring it either), and lateral slipping is horrible. I really have to baby this thing on wet streets.
Otherwise the 2003 is a great vehicle.

 

I'm just curious, but do you have the 4x2 or 4x4 Expy?

 

Yep

Something I learned from the Generals that came with my truck: Always choose the no-cost tires when you purchase a truck and change them asap. All OEM tires selections are horrible in snow and rain. Ford wants you to have a quiet, soft ride when you test drive or pruchase a new vehicle

 

It's a 4X2

 

I live in Central FL and have almost 10K on my 03, and have driven it through "mini" hurricanes without any problems. Even when I try to break the rear loose from a stop on wet roads, I have a hard time???

I agree that the tires aren't the greatest, but I would say that they are far from unsafe.

Have you addresed the issue w/ the dealer?

 

I have the Continental SUV RWL tires and stand by my opinion that these tires are horrible in wet conditions.

 

Agreed - the stock Conti's are terrible!! I had the dealer swap them with the Yokohama Geolanders I had just put on my 99 when I purchased the 03. They are fantastic - no hydroplaning, no squealing when turning. Just got back from Maryland and encountered snow and slush with no problems. I highly recommend swapping out the stockers with something decent.

 

My '03 EB 4x4 came with the ContiTrac TR (not even SUV!) tires. They were the biggest pieces of crap I have ever driven on - I actually slid sideways down a very mild unpaved driveway when it was slightly wet. I changed mine out to the Yokohama Geolander AT+ Series II.

The Yokohamas are awesome! They are great on and off-road and handle much better than stock and are not detectably any noisier. I cannot recommend these tires enough. They are available for around $90 each on TireRack. Just be sure to get the + and Series II because they are a vast improvement over the original two iterations of the Geolander AT.

BTW, anybody wanna buy a set of 4 ContiTracs with about 1,000 miles on 'em?

 

I'll second the Yoko Geolanders. I just put a set on my '98, and they are sweet. They work great in the rain, and also work well off road (not as well as BFG AT's, but still not bad).