05-09 Exterior Modifications Making Your '05 Stand Out from the Crowd

Fuzion Zri's in the rain!

Old Jun 28, 2005 | 10:37 PM
  #1  
mustp51's Avatar
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This is info for any of you that have been thinking about getting these tires.
I just put a set of 255/50/17 Fuzion Zri's on my car this weekend. Just pretty much normal driving with them. I have got on it a couple of times on the dry and the traction seems just a bit better than stock. Hard to really tell when driving around in traffic though. On a couple of corners, on the back way home, that I can get some speed in, cornering definitly feels better!

Now about the rain. We were having one of our monsoon type rainstorms here in Tampa today when it was time to leave work. Actually it was raining all the way from work to home, about 30 miles. I will tell you that I was very impressed with the way these tires act in the rain. From a stop traction is great! I tried several times from stop lights to break them loose, and they just want to hang-on. I was able to get them loose eventually and the TCS kicked-in. But it took way more throttle than the stockers.

One of the bridges I have to cross has some of those lane spanning 1"-2" deep puddles on it in the rain. I used to fear these in my '95. With the stockers I hit some of these last week at speed(50-60mph) and noticed a little hydro-planing, not as bad as the '95, but still enough to make you slow down and try dodge the next one. At 45-55mph today, the Fuzions made those same puddles feel as if they were'nt there

The aggressive tread pattern is one of the reasons I was drawn to this tire. I have driven in Fla all my life so putting up with rain is just the way it is. I believe the pattern on this tire works really good at displacing the water. As well, the rubber compound seems to grip very good in the wet.

IMHO - I would reccomend this tire to anyone looking for a low cost, good looking, great performance tire for everyday driving. I plan on finding out how well their dry traction is on thurs., barring rain, some friends and I are going to test & tune at Bradenton Speeday to run!!

By the way, I'm not affiliated with anything to do with these tires. I was just blown away with how well these tires worked in the rain compared to more expensive ones I have used in the past. I just figured some of you would like to know
jeff
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Old Jun 28, 2005 | 10:51 PM
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bcboy1969's Avatar
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Thanks for the info
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Old Jun 29, 2005 | 08:21 AM
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acadian's Avatar
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I have these on my list... thanks for the detailed review.
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Old Jun 29, 2005 | 10:49 AM
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I wonder how they'd perform when the frozen rain hits us here in the north?
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Old Jun 29, 2005 | 01:04 PM
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Thanks for the info. I haven't had mine in the rain yet, but it's good to know what to expect.
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Old Jul 2, 2005 | 01:11 AM
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mustp51's Avatar
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Originally posted by pony_up@June 29, 2005, 10:52 AM
I wonder how they'd perform when the frozen rain hits us here in the north?
Frank,
From what I've read on TireRack and other places, they are no good at all in the snow.

I did get to try them out at the strip thurs night. I only got three runs in before it started raining. But on each run, they hooked well enough to cause the car to bog. Part of the bog I'm sure was by poor technique. But on a normal street with the same 2500-3k dump of the clutch, you can get them spinning and not bog. They spin less than stock, but they will. I guess since the track surface is literally impregnated with rubber from thousands of passes, you get more of a rubber to rubber grip for improved traction.

Another thing to mention about driving in the rain, I don't know if it's because my tires are 1" closer to the fender-lip + 3/4" wider, the tread pattern, or a combo of both, but there is litterally a cloud of water spray around the car! I mean you can see it roiling past the side windows of the car and there is a huge plume in the rear view mirror! I definitly did not notice this with the stockers. And I know its real, the last two times I put gas in, it's been raining almost everyday for a week now, there was like an 1/8" thick layer of sand inside the fuel door. And you can see the dirty spray pattern on the fender in that area.
Has anyone else with wider tires seen this?
jeff
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Old Jul 2, 2005 | 06:54 AM
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Hatchman's Avatar
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From: Chesapeake, VA
Thanks for the detailed review, I have been seriously considering these tires as well. It is my opinion that the stock Nero's have really bad wet weather traction, worse than most tires I've had. The added "safety" of having better wet weather traction will speed up my conversion.

Not to mention, they look much better than stock!

Thanks again!
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Old Jul 2, 2005 | 05:44 PM
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My Fuzion 255/50/17's went on yesterday along with my 4.10's. I'd offer my review, but right now my car is strapped to the dyno waiting for baseline pulls on Tuesday. That's right, strapped to the dyno from Friday 'til Tuesday! Fourth of July weekend!! Smart, huh? Not the best weekend to be without my ride and certainly not the way I planned it, but I've been waiting for quite a while to get scheduled with this guy. (He better be good!) I'll be installing a JLT CAI and doing a custom tune with the XCAL2 to go with the gears.

Results and review to follow.........

Happy 4th!
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