Are 2 sets of Miss matched Winter tires a bad idea?

Yes, it's a bad idea. In my experience, the vehicle will become quite unstable with snows only on the front, turns and braking on slippery surfaces become quite the treat.

Don't be cheap with tires. Remember, the two things most likely to kill you if they fail on your vehicle are brakes and tires. Decent snow tires (if needed in your local climate) are far cheaper then body shop visits and hospital stays.

That is VERY dangerous. What will happen is your back tires will break loose first in a turn, causing you to spin out. Either get 2 more winter tires, or don't use the old ones.

Even with a front-wheel drive car, if you are cheap and only decide to buy 2 new tires because you were too cheap to rotate them, and the fronts wore out, put the new tires in BACK. In slippery conditions, you want the FRONT to break loose first because it's easier to recover control. Once the back looses grip, it's VERY difficult to recover.

As t'other guy says, yes, a bad idea. You will be able to accelerate and brake better in a straight line, but if you come to a corner and it's iffy down there, your van will swap ends sooner than you can say, "I say chaps, rather icy down there, eh?" (or words to that effect)...

Back in 1980, a friend of mine had a fwd citation that he put snows on the front. He never had a problem driving in the snow. Mark

Ahhh, well that's why, then. The snow in the 2000s is much worse than it was back then! :)

You may or you may not get a problem, it will depend on how the car is driven, what the road and weather is like, so on and so forth. If you're going to do something stupid, it won't matter where the tyres are :) and if you're careful, you'll hopefully not need the extra grip.

But a sticky front end and a loose back end is _not_ such a good idea as one might think for a front wheel drive car. Yes, the front wheels do most of the braking, all of the steering and all of the acceleration, and for most of the time the rear wheels are just there to stop the ass end dragging on the road. But for those times when you need the back to grip...

Oversteer in almost all front wheel drive cars is unpredictable and "snappy," that is, the car snaps into oversteer and is difficult to get back in line.

All snow tyres, or none, going for two is going to compromise something...

Not difficult just very fun! Mark

Agreed. When you want it to be. But when Bambi has just run out in front of you on the approach to a gentle right hander, with a ditch that side of the road, you really don't want to be going into the ditch tail first (disclaimer that we have right hand drive cars, reverse as necessary).

Until that 'fun' causes you to spin out into oncoming traffic, in front of an overloaded 18-wheeler!! I hope you have good life insurance for your family!