I was thinking of buying some slightly used studdable snow tires on Craigslist. Is it possible to stud used snow tires if there is enough tread? Walmart refuses to do it (I was just going to bring the tires and 4 craigslist Blazer rims to them to mount and balance them. I don't trust them with the entire vehicle.).

 

Try a real tire shop and see what they say... I'm by no means an expert on this stuff but I would assume there could be some issues with doing this.

 

I shall do that. Some people on the internet say it can be done if the tire was made for it, but I may just forget it since they say studless tires are better. So does TireRack. Thanks

Now I got a call back and they say the tires are between 75-90% tread and I am going to arrange for an appointment to buy them, but I am going to inspect them first. What should I look for when buying used tires? Tread, making sure all 4 are equal (prevent damage to the 4x4 system), no bulges, no holes, no exposed cords, no cracks are all I can think of. What else should I look for?

What about the rims? Anything I should watch out for? They are aluminum Blazer rims.

 

Just look for even wear,big dry rot cracks. your gonna have a few minor tiny cracks around tread etc....which is ok,its a used tire. Also check the beads on the tires..A way to find plugs is run your hand around inside the tire,if theres any plugs etc you will feel them.

 

all the information is above also make sure the rims aren't cracked

 

Ok I got the tires and had them mounted and I installed them, but now I have a new problem. When the truck is in 4x4, I am hearing a faint groaning noise when the car is moving and the front axle is more difficult to engage than usual (in 2HI or 4HI). The same one I normally hear if I make a shallow turn in 4x4 on dry pavement with my all season tires (which I very very rarely do. And only to find out if my 4wd is working before taking a road trip where I know I will need it. And I stop the truck the second I hear or feel resistance.), but now it is happening almost constantly on snow, slush and ice and it didn't do it with the all-seasons. It goes away when I press the 2HI button, but leave the front axle engaged (Posi-Lok). Are these new tires destroying my 4x4 system? Also, when making turns, the truck feels like it is on dry pavement and the car was shaking a bit during turns even with no throttle. Either way, I am not happy with them and I am trying to get into contact with the people who sold them to me and asking for a refund. My all seasons are going back on the truck until I can get a better set of snow tires.

EDIT: I took the snow tires off and put the all season tires and rims back on. Front axle engages 100x easier in both 2HI and 10x easier in 4HI. I haven't tried driving in 4HI to see if the noise is gone since the snow melted, but since it was problematic with the snow tires on, I assume that the tires were the probable cause of the groaning noise. The tires seems to have equal to near-equal tread, so how could the tires be causing it?