on the whole pain thing, im gonna have to side with david and tangles. sure its a novel idea to say pain is all in the mind, but when you have constant pain ebbing away at your mind every hour of every day for years on end, thinking positive isnt going to relieve what youre feeling.
no worries. as i said, id even consider a 235/35. and depending on how low you go, you might have no option when it comes to the guard liners, remove them or rub through and eventually tear them off.
the only reason most places wont touch alloy guards is because they cant guarantee that the process wont cause damage, even with steel guards.
its possible, itll just take a lot of patience (and therefor time), a lot of heat, and a soft touch hammer. and if youre unlucky, some paint.