I used a pre finished engineered wood product from menards on the first floor.
now i want to do the stairs and hallways up stairs.

the stair nose of matching finish is much smaller which poses a possible issue because it may show next to the larger original tread which went in the stringer and had to be cut back. Maybe paint will cure this.

i also noticed the stair nose has a groove and the technical rep said to cut that off and butt it against the next piece when you glue and nail it down.
he said those pieces were designed for a step not necessarily stair nose for a stair case.

plus i have to use 3 cut pieces vs one board.

the other option is this kit with the riser and one piece oak tread with nose. very easy to install. i can stain to match but it will look different being oak vs distressed rustic hand scraped hickory.

any advice?

 

Hard to advise without a link or picture of the product you used.

 

I would suggest you check out the colors of hickory flooring at Lowe's or Home Depot because they have hickory nose that is about 8ft long. Even if it isn't hand scraped, hickory will look better than oak.