My car: '02 Protege5
Stock tire size: 195/50r/16

Looking at 205/55r/16
Will these fit and work OK or are they too tall?

 

They will "work", but as mentioned above, your speedometer and odometer will both underreport your speed and distance traveled. If you want a wider tire which is the same diameter as the OEM rubber for your car you should probably consider 215/45 R16 tires; they are virtually the same diameter as the OEM rubber (they're just 0.185" smaller in diameter).

 

I know where you're going with this and I agree but I am looking at a set of used studded snow tires. Just trying to get ahead of the game.

 

I assume you're going to stay with the 195/50 R16 size for the winter set and use the others for non-winter use.

 

The other way around. My 195's are almost new. The snows are what I'm thinking about getting.

 

Bad idea, you want snows to be as narrow as possible; in your case, buy them the same size as your other tires.

 

That makes sense.