Cut them.

I did mine a year ago on my 97 Polo and it made the handling much better. I do 180 k's a day (mostly country driving over bumpy roads) and have never had a problem. I lowered the car about 60mm so there is a gap between tyres and wheel arch of about 30mm on all wheels.

Took me a couple of hours. Don't forget to reset the wheel alignment as lowering the car knocks it out by a few degrees.

Cheers

Paul