Front Fender/Well modification for tire clearance

[au1991rx]

My car is ready for paint and together, gapped, etc.. There is no engine in the car so it sits high in the front. My tires are mounted (245/40/17) on the front. Obviously it is not aligned yet and camber is not set. My biggest concern right now is that I am going to paint the car, then get the engine/trans/glass etc. and the car will settle and I will have a bad fender rub. The reason I am so concerned about this is because the wheel came with 4.5" backspace instead of the intended 4.75" for this width rim.. it was just a mistake on my part.. and this moves the tire 1/4" further out.

Anyway, I have seen others on the internets modify the front fenders by cutting the lip on the front fender, thereby removing the mounting points for the top 2 inner fender bolts to get clearance. I don't have any idea what they did to close this gap on the inside but they got clearance for the tire this way.

I tend to overthink things, but I like to be prepared. I don't want to modify a painted bumper and I know it is going to be close so I would . Does anyone have any experience with this?