Dropping and Adding Rims

first off... what gen accord do you have??? from my understanding of your name... you have a 2001....
so by that you can even go 19's perfectly..... regarless of 17's or 18's you'll bend rims no matter what... doing 100 on a pothole with 15's with even dent... you just have to be cautious on what you drive on... 17's on a 6th gen accor dlike yours are way too small.. 18's are the bare minimums for that gen
trust me theres not a huge diff with 18's and 17's... so dont worry about neding your rims... take it from a guy who has riden on them both... and i can say this from experience as oppose to word of mouth....
i even has 19's too.. now that is rough