I own a MY04, and just picked up a set of 16 inch wheels w/ tires to use during our wet winter. I figured there was no need to wear out the RE 50's during the winter.

The 16's have Cooper Zeons, an all weather performance tire. 205-55 front, 225-50 rear. I know the rears are not the recommended size, and I don't want to start that discussion again!

What amazed me was the difference in the front tread width.

SO2s (stock pre MY04) front: 7.1 rear 8.5

Cooper Xeons front 7.42 rear 8.32


RE 050's front 6.7 rear (not listed, but about 9 inches)

What I think is significant is how narrow the fronts are on the 04 tires even though they are 215 - 45 - 17.

Has anyone put stock size tires on an 04 with wider front tread? If so did you notice a significant difference in handling?

BTW, i did a search and could only find discussion relating to rear tire size.

 

The RE050 just like the S02 on the previous cars was tuned for the S2K. It is what Honda asked for. If you go with a wider front tire and stay with the OE rear tire the handling will be different. I would say the car is going to probably oversteer more easily.
The best way to combat that is to go wider in both front and rear to keep the stagger the same, or thereabouts, the same as stock.