Why don't you ask the tire distributer?  Would you bank on what you read
here?

the V rating is a speed rating, also, typically V rated tires will wear
faster than an H rated tire. If your not performance driving at high speeds,
you probably won't notice a difference.

Check the sticker inside the driver's door jamb to see what Honda
recommends as the minimum speed rating.

MinnPinn wrote "Hey All,
I have an 04 Accord EX Sedan and it needs 2 new tires in the front.
Currently the OEM tire is the Michelin Energy MXV4 in a V rating.  Is
the
V-rated tire required or can it e stepped down to a H rated tire with
little
or no loss of handling, safety, etc? "

You probably already know that buying 4 new tires will be safer. You
can not predict that any V-rated tire will perform better than any
H-rated tire so mixing will be something of a crap shoot. So how much
money is your life worth? You bought the "EX" so claims of poverty
won't fly.
Whatever you buy, make sure that the REAR tires have at least as much,
if not more, traction than the front tires. Under no circumstances do
you want the back end to break loose (oversteer).
See www.tirerack.com survey results for tire ratings.
The OEM tires are not very good so you will probably not want to keep
them on the rear.
I replaced Michelin Energy tires (all 4) with Goodyear's Assurance
ComforTreds on my daughter's Accord and she has been happy with them,
esp. the highway ride.

H is excellent for US driving conditions.  These ratings are
specifically for speed and relate to the car manufacturer's liability
concerns.  The V may have stiffer sidewalls (but not necessarily; the
Yokohama dB S2 is V, but is softer than a typical H).

Personally I like to use the same tire on all four locations, which is
why I regularly rotate tires in order to get them to wear out at the
same time.  If you are only going to replace two tires, put the MXV4s on
there.

I have had some bad experiences when I put different tires front and
rear.  Sometimes it works out ok, sometimes not.

If you replace all four, then there are many alternatives which are
quality tires at less than MXV4 prices.  No, there is no good reason in
the US why you couldn't step down to an appropriate H rated tire.

I recently replaced all four tires on my '03 Accord with Yokohama Avid
H4S tires and am very happy with the choice.  Last week I made a 1000
mile trip, over 300 miles of which was on winding secondary roads
through the mountains of Northern California in the rain.  The H4S tires
performed flawlessly.  My only complaint is that they are slighly
noisier than the MXV4 OEM tires, but the improved wet grip makes this an
excellent tradeoff for me.   Also, these tires were 40% less expensive
to purchase than new Michelins and they carry an AA traction rating,
which is rather rare.

John

For the next set of tires, you may want to rotate the tires so that
they all wear evenly, maximizing tire life and avoiding odd handling
characteristics that may occur if tires at one end are worn down much
more than tires at the other end.