Sure Grip Zombie Wheel Review
I have the 59mm and skate the 98a and 89a Durameter (two sets). I prefer the 89a except when I'm doing a lot of toe spins and pancake spins where they catch a bit too much grip. These are absolutely great wheels, made with tons of precision. What's really nice is that Sure Grip sells matched bearing spacers for them and they are within about 3/1000 or so. I've only had to file one down. This means bearing performance is maximized. They are aluminum C&C'd hubs to very fine accuracy measured one against the other, but the spacers are nylon so that's where you lose some accuracy and see some burrs occasionally. The anodized finish is beautiful. They are, in fact, my most attractive wheels (my opinion of course). These wheels come reeded except for the first manufacturing run made years ago. However, be aware this reeding/treadle comes off pretty quickly but fortunately, wears evenly on well adjusted skates. The precision of these wheels allows me to spin very quickly with absolute confidence in the support and balance of the wheels. The grip on the 89A is less than you'd expect for the Durameter. That's a urethane formulation feature, in this case. The grip is excellent on the rink floor at speed for the purple 89A. The extreme stiffness of the hubs is excellent for edging support. When I want more slide or pure style, I go with the emerald green 97A (they look sooo cool, classy, and expensive) . The only drawback is the cost. I think I paid 130 bucks per set of 8 for mine. Ouch. They also weight more than the average wheel the same size, despite the aluminum hub, which is disappointing. However, they durability of their construction is pretty extreme. Heavy skaters could skate these with confidence. These are indoor wheels but they don't get ruined by use outdoors (anodized finish stands up well). The urethane can take a lot of abuse and doesn't chunk-out like cheap wheels. They just transmit a lot of vibration to your knees due to being stiff-hub'd and thin-urethane'd. The silk screening can sometimes have legibility or quality issues on Zombies, I've noticed. That's disappointing, but I also noticed that acetone takes the label straight off without effort. That looked better, anyway.
Comments
I've skated the red hub Max and the green hub Max. My older daughter skates the 98s a d my youngest daughter skates the Mini 89 purple hubs. We have been very satisfied overall. I got all of them on sale at Amazon for $80 per set a couple years back. The 98s actually still grip well, even with my 120# daughter on them. Of course, she has power-trac plates, great for "go fast, turn left" skating. We just session skate, and on a nice wood floor, so they do well for her.