Jim@tirerack

Hi promking, Everybody is correct. If you give the tires a little time they will be better. They are not going to be as good as the S02 in the dry but I would say better in the wet. They should also give you a little longer tread life. The S03 is going to be substantially better in handling both wet and dry than the Fuzion. It is also better in the wet than the S02.
If money is not the concern the S02 is the best I have seen on the car for performance driving. If I can help let me know.

promking

Thanks for the response. Since I have 30 days to make my mind up I think i'll break these in a little and see what happens.

esracer

also did you get the right sizes for these tires? You would need to be running 225's up front and 245's in the back to get about the same contact patch as the S02's.

JulieU

I did the same thing... accidentally peeled out pulling out of the tire place. I figured it was because it was chilly outside and the tires were cold, too. The Fuzions did great on my road trip last month! I say give 'em a chance.

jyeung528

225's up front? does this only apply to the fuzion tires?

I thought that the fronts were fine at 205, and it was only the rears that needed to be 245.

can someone confirm this?

esracer

From Tire Rack spec sheets

S02: 205 Tread Width 7.1"

Fuzions: 205 Tread Width 6.6"
225 Tread Width 7.1"

esracer

This applies to I think all tires, if you're not running OEM S02's and you are running the same 205 and 225 stance you are running a thinner tire, so everytime you buy another tire besides a S02 to match or do better you should run 225's in front and 245's in the back.

watermain

Wow, I didn't realize this. I checked on the Tirerack website, and sure enough; the Fuzion ZRi 205/55R16 has only a 6.6 inch tread width. The stock Bridgestone S02 is 7.1 inches.

It's strange because almost all of the other manufacturer's 205/55R16s are really close to the stock size. Normally, only the rear size needs to be upsized.

I wonder if its a typo on the Tirerack website?

watermain

No, this doesn't apply to most other tire manufacturer's for the front tires. Most are within a tenth of an inch. Some are actually wider than the factory tires - Yoko AVS ES100(7.5 inches) & Avon Tech M500(7.4 inches). Just check the stats on the Tirerack website before you make any decisions.

esracer

^^
yeah I checked that also alittle while ago