Fuzion ZRi Ultra High Performance Summer vs other Tires

Tires tested:
Goodyear Eagle RS-A High Performance All-Season 205/50R17
Avon Tech M500 Ultra High Performance Summer 225/45R17
Fuzion ZRi Ultra High Performance Summer 225/45R17
Yokohama AVS ES100 Ultra High Performance Summer 225/45R17

Vehicles used:
2003 BMW 330Ci

Fuzion is a new tire brand, developed by Bridgestone, who has been manufacturing tires for over 70 years. By combining performance from Bridgestone's proven tire technologies with new styling & marketing techniques, the Fuzion brand is aimed at meeting the needs of today's sport compact car, sports car & sport truck driving enthusiasts & tuners who expect their tires to deliver performance along with style & value.

The first product released with the Fuzion br& name is the Fuzion ZRi, an Ultra High Performance Summer tire. To get a better underst&ing of how the Fuzion ZRi performs, Tire Rack Team conducted a Real World Road Ride & Performance Track Drive to compare the ZRi with the Avon Tech M500 & Yokohama AVS ES100 Ultra High Performance Summer tires. The Avon Tech M500 is an attractively priced & recent release in the category, while the Yokohama AVS ES100 has become a popular choice with the styling & performance to attract drivers in the tuner performance market. Our comparison used 2003 BMW 330Ci coupes, with 225/45R17 tires mounted on 17x8.0" wheels, which is a common Plus Zero size upgrade from BMW's Original Equipment tire size (205/50R17 on 17x7.0" wheels). Also, our evaluation used new, full tread depth tires.

We also included a fourth 2003 BMW 330Ci fitted with the Original Equipment 205/50R17 Goodyear Eagle RS-A High Performance All-Season tires mounted on factory 17x7.0" wheels. We have included this vehicle/tire combination in other tire evaluations, & have found it helpful to have an OE-equipped vehicle in the test, to evaluate how installing the other products impacts the vehicle's ride & h&ling characteristics.

Goodyear Eagle RS-A

The Goodyear Eagle RS-A is a High Performance All-Season tire produced with several speed ratings & in a wide variety of sizes. Its design is heavily influenced by its use as an Original Equipment tire by BMW, Volkswagen, General Motors, Chrysler & others. The Eagle RS-A features a subtle asymmetric tread design with larger tread elements in the outside shoulder intended to deliver more responsive h&ling, cornering, & steering. Smaller tread blocks on the inside shoulder combined with wide tread & lateral grooves are intended to enhance wet & snow traction.

Out on the road, the Eagle RS-A exhibited good road manners. Overall h&ling felt sporty but not nimble, while ride comfort & road noise both scored well with our team. This combination delivered a nice blend of comfort & performance, & helped illustrate why many vehicle manufacturers select the Eagle RS-A for Original Equipment fitment.

On the test track in the dry, the Eagle RS-A delivered h&ling that was appropriate for a tire in the High Performance All-Season tire category. But its all-season tread pattern & compound, combined with the narrower size just could not match the h&ling of the other three, more performance-oriented, summer tires in this test.

Under wet conditions, the Eagle RS-A has always performed well when compared with other All-Season tires, but was again at a disadvantage to some of the Ultra High Performance Summer tires in this evaluation. The higher-grip summer tread compounds & performance-oriented construction aided the other tires, relegating the all-season Eagle RS-A to the fourth place spot.

Avon Tech M500

The Avon Tech M500 is the Ultra High Performance Summer tire member of AVON Tyres' family of Tech performance tires. The attractively priced Tech M500 is designed to deliver confidence to the drivers of sports cars, sports coupes & performance sedans by providing traction, h&ling & control in dry & wet road conditions.

On the outside, the Tech M500 molds a silica-enhanced summer tread compound into an asymmetric, five-rib tread design to increase the tread rigidity of the outer half of the tire & help it resist deformation, thus increasing traction, steering response & cornering stability. The tread design's continuous center rib provides constant rubber-to-road contact to enhance straight line tracking while reducing noise levels. The width & location of the four wide circumferential grooves blend dry road performance with wet weather traction & hydroplaning resistance.

On the inside, the Tech M500 features twin steel belts reinforced by spirally wrapped nylon, along with a carcass that s&wiches a hard sidewall filler between polyester cord plies to help resist distortion at high speeds & while cornering.

Driving around our Real World Road Ride route, the Tech M500 delivered a good blend of performance & comfort. With a modest trade-off in road h&ling, there was a noticeable gain in ride & noise comfort versus the other two Ultra High Performance tires used in this evaluation. Compared to the Original Equipment comparison tire, the Tech M500 did feel a bit firmer over the bumps & expansion joints & generated some additional tread noise, as was expected, but it also delivered an improvement in h&ling over the OE tire.

On the dry h&ling course, the Tech M500 was quicker around the test track than its subjective feel would have led you to believe. The h&ling & steering response characteristics noticed on the road carried over to the track, where the Tech M500 did not feel quite as crisp as the other two Ultra High Performance Summer tires in this test. Our team found the Tech M500 required a little more steering input to negotiate the sharper turns or carve a tight line around the skid pad circle. But in the end, the Avon Tech M500 did prove to be fast, lapping our test course less than 0.1 second behind the first-place tire.

In wet conditions on the track, the Tech M500 felt well-connected & was easy to drive. Overall h&ling was well-balanced & without excessive understeer or oversteer. Accelerating around the 90° turn one into the slalom portion was easy, & the Tech M500 felt locked-in while holding a tight line around the skid pad. This combination provided greater driver confidence & faster lap times than the other three tires in this test.

Fuzion ZRi

The Fuzion brand has been introduced to meet the needs of sport compact car, sports car & sport truck driving enthusiasts & tuners. The first product to carry the Fuzion name is the Fuzion ZRi, an Ultra High Performance Summer tire that combines advanced UNI-T technology with affordable pricing.

UNI-T technologies focus on three primary tire components, the beads, casing & tread, which combine to influence overall performance while enhancing comfort, h&ling & traction. The Fuzion ZRi molds a Long Link Carbon (an advanced form of carbon black) & a silica-reinforced tread compound into an aggressive, directional tread design to enhance dry traction that also evacuates water from between the tire's contact patch & the road to improve wet grip & reduce the possibility of hydroplaning. Internally, the Fuzion ZRi's casing & twin steel belts deliver responsive h&ling & cornering stability. The steel belts are reinforced with spirally wound nylon to provide high-speed durability while minimizing weight & maximizing ride qualities. Rim Guard rubber ridges on its lower sidewalls function as rim protectors to help protect wheels from curb damage.

During our drive around the road loop surrounding our Indiana headquarters, the Fuzion ZRi felt sporty & ready to attack your favorite cloverleaf or twisty stretch of back roads. Overall road h&ling was a little softer than the Yokohama AVS ES100, but still felt well connected & provided linear steering response. Ride quality was subtly better than the Yokohama, but could not absorb the impacts as well as the Avon Tech M500. The Fuzion ZRi produced several subtle, but distinct pitches of tread noise as the vehicle slowed down to a stop.

Under dry conditions on the test track, the Fuzion ZRi delivered stable h&ling that was easy to read, helping the driver reach for the h&ling limits. Steering feel was not quite as crisp as the Yokohama AVS ES100, but was linear, delivering a constant increase in cornering as more steering input was dialed in, right up until the limit. The Fuzion ZRi felt very stable & "locked in" around the skidpad portion of the track, posting the highest level of lateral g's of this test.

In the wet, the Fuzion ZRi felt comfortable & composed. The ZRi did not turn in quite as quickly as the AVS ES100, but provided a nice balance between responsiveness & overall traction. In the end, the overall grip level & lap times were not quite able to keep up with the Avon Tech M500, however.

Yokohama AVS ES100

The Yokohama AVS ES100 radial is Yokohama's Ultra High Performance Summer tire designed for drivers of sports cars, coupes & sedans. The AVS in the AVS ES100 radial's name identifies that this tire is a member of Yokohama's Advanced Vehicle System flagship family of performance tires.

On the outside, the AVS ES100 features a high-tech silica tread compound molded into a directional tread design with long tread blocks & a continuous center rib to provide traction, responsive h&ling, & high-speed stability. Its two, wide circumferential center channels & "high angle" lateral tread grooves effectively pump water to the sides of the tire's footprint to enhance wet traction & minimize hydroplaning. Internally, the AVS ES100 features twin steel belts reinforced by jointless, wrapped nylon stabilizing the tread area to elevate h&ling & high-speed capability while minimizing weight. The AVS ES100 radial's polyester cord body & steel wire-reinforced sidewalls help blend ride quality with lateral stability.

During the road ride portion of our evaluation, the AVS ES100 delivered the best h&ling of the test, feeling nimble & sporty. Initial steering response was particularly crisp, with the AVS ES100 responding quickly to driver inputs. While the level of tread noise was considered appropriate for the Ultra High Performance Summer category, it was a constant companion at all speeds & across all road surfaces. The biggest trade off for the sporty feel was in ride quality, where the AVS ES100 felt somewhat harsh over the choppier sections of our test loop compared with the other tires tested.

On the h&ling course in the dry, the AVS ES100 again delivered crisp h&ling & sharp steering response. Driving this tire feels very precise, feeling locked-in around the steady-state skid pad. If the tire did begin to break away, only minor adjustments of the steering wheel or throttle were required to keep the car tracking where you want it. We did notice a small amount of wheel spin when accelerating hard off a corner, where the unweighted inside rear tire would spin up while the car was still leaning (the 2003 BMW 330Ci Coupe is not equipped with a limited slip differential).

With water on the track, the AVS ES100 did not feel as connected as it had in the dry. While still quick to turn off center, the AVS ES100 would produce under steer if pressed hard around the corners. Under acceleration, the rear tires broke loose with only moderate application of the throttle. While we have experienced these basic traits in past wet tests, this evaluation seemed especially slippery for the AVS ES100 with an average overall lap time that was noticeably slower than previous events, even though the ambient temperature was in the low 80° Fahrenheit range.