Do I have to lower my car after change of wheels?

Hi. I've already a couple of questions here. But still I don't know what to do.
Actually, I'm gonna chage my 15" wheels to 17" wheels. But I want to maintain the stock height.
Do I have to lower it even though I want the stock height?
If I get the stock height after lowering it, Does my car look bad or is the handling bad? If so, Do I have to lower more than stock height?
If I should lower it, What should i do? (change of spring? )

One thing, I just want bigger wheels and still get the stock height and same comfort ride or better.

Thanks.

you can get the same height if you get the right size tires, i think you'd need to get 215/40 or 205/40, im not sure. but it will look ugly, trust me. here's my car before lowering. and after is in the sig. huge diff.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/384714mycar1.jpg

You don’t have to lower your car after you put 17” rims, there are plenty people who don’t want to lower their cars for reasons like:
1. It snows a lot here and I don’t want my car be snow plow in winter time.
2. Roads are pretty bad here and afraid I might damage under carriage.
3. I have steep driveway, so if I lower my car I won’t be able to get into garage.

With 17” rims handling of car will be better due to smaller and stiffer tire side wall.

To maintain same wheel diameter as stock you need 215/50/17 or 235/45/17 tires, but for 235/45/17 tires you need to buy rims that have 7.5” width, for 215/50/17 you can get away with 6.5” wide rims, but 7” is recommended.

Accord has very limited fender well space, but a lot of people don’t pay attention to offset when they buy rims and they end up with rims stick out to much beyond fenders. For accords it’s not recommended to use rims that has offset less then +42mm.

I am sort of running into the same problem with my 95 accord. I really would like to lower it, but it snows alot in oregon during the winter, and i hate to be a snow plow. I have heard that there are adjustable coil overs that you can lower yourself during the summer and raise back up during the snowy months. I am just not sure how good they are and how long they will last. Might be something to look into.

if you lower it, you'll notice that the camber is wrong. your car will ride on the inside half of the tire, causing uneven tire wear. so you'll not only need to lower the car, but buy some camber kits. money for new wheels, money for lowering, money for camber kits....what's your bank account number?

if i were you i would lower your car 1". you can get an eibach pro kit or something. that will reduce the raised height from the rims. it will also make your car look WAY better. personally, i hate cars with rims not lowered (it makes your rims look small). with a 1" drop, your camber won't be off bad enough to need a camber kit. thats my 2 cents...

I wanna lower my civic too ... but I go up to the mtns a lot and also do some dirt roading in the summer when I go camping ... but im rollin on 13's so it doesnt look THAT bad.