How will your tires fare during the winter season?

There's no getting around winter. Instead of dreading it, prepare for it.

In many parts of the country, winter brings a new set of rules to the road.

And if you have performance tires or even standard all-season tires on your vehicle, then icy roads and snow can present difficulties.

Performance tires are designed for handling on dry pavement and the ability to provide fair traction on wet roads.

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All-season tires, found on many vehicles as original equipment, do provide traction on ice and snow if driven carefully, but these tires would be better named "three-season" tires. They work well in spring, summer and fall, but don't provide the ultimate handling and traction of winter-specific tires on snow.

If you live and drive in an environment where icy roads are simply part of everyday life, a winter tire is still the best choice.

Consider installing performance snow tires as recommended at all four wheel positions.

Snow tires have a tread compound that contains millions of special particles that pierce the ice to provide a secure grip when driving or braking on packed snow and icy roads. Their tread polymers and heavy shoulder blocks provide maximum traction, lateral grip and reduced tire vibration. They also provide resistance to aquaplaning by efficiently evacuating water and slush away from the contact patch for excellent traction -- the ultimate in driving confidence in extreme winter conditions.

Find out what the latest cold-weather tread compounds and proven design technology can do for the winter handling of your vehicle by visiting www.goodyear.com.

Choose from a wide range of tires -- those specifically created to take on severe winter driving conditions -- designed for everything from minivans to pickups to sports cars.

Finally, consider keeping two sets of tires on hand -- winter and performance or all-season -- for your vehicle. It may sound expensive and a bother, but tires are all that connect us to the road. If good tires prevent just one collision or one injury in the life of a vehicle, then they have paid for themselves many times over.