1) What tire size are you using with the rims? It sounds like your tire size is too large for a 17" wheel, hence the rubbing. You shouldn't be rubbing AT ALL at stock height. To correctly plus size your tires, you should be running a 205/40/17. From what your describing I'm guessing either your sidewall is too big or your tires are too wide.
2) Strut bars are not going to do anything to effect rubbing. Rubbing occurs from oversized tires and/or ride height of the car.
3) Change your suspension....yes and no. Yes, you should lower the car so it no longer looks like a 4x4 with larger wheels on it. No, you shouldn't lower it until you get correct sized tires on the car and use a good, slight drop setup. Your not going to be able to dump the car very far with large, 17" wheels. Probably should look into a 1 or 1.5 inch setup. You should look into a set of H&R springs and upgrade them with a better shock of your choice (Tokico's are a pretty popular choice with H&R's).
4) DO NOT take out your fender lining. There is no point...your not rubbing on the lining, your rubbing against the fender itself. The metal of the fender tucks into the wheel well for the fender liner to bolt onto it. You have the option of "rolling" your fenders. Basically you want to push back the metal part of the fender all the way around where the lining bolts onto it.
You can do this with a baseball bat planted firmly against your tire. You MUST use perfect pressure or you can risk warping the fender, harming your baseball bat, or ruining your tire.
Please reply with your tire size though, that should take care of the question itself though.
