265/70/17 rubbing upper control arm

[HoLLo]

I have a 2003 Explorer XLT on completely stock suspension and stock wheels. After doing a lot of reading, plenty of reports seemed to indicate a 265/70/17 would fit, or MAYBE run into minor rubbing on the fenderwell panels at full lock. Well, at about 1.5 turns of the steering wheel, my new tires make contact with the upper control arm, where the little lip comes out laterally from the ball joint.

I'm not looking into dumping much into this vehicle, as it's primarily a winter beater, but I would eventually like to maybe add 2-3" of lift to it. Will the lift solve the upper control arm rub? Also, I see MOOG's problem solver line has a replacement upper control arm that looks beefy and doesn't have a protruding lip like the stock arms. It MIGHT provide just enough clearance to prevent the tire from rubbing, but not sure.

The tires are Falken WildPeak A/T3W. Does anyone have any experience with tires rubbing the upper control arm? Would the MOOG arms fix it or the lift? Or should I just consider some spacers?

Thank you.

 

[boominXplorer]

I'd just throw some quality spacers on it. Some jeep guy will buy them if you ever want to sell. You do need to measure hub bore as not all spacers will fit factory wheels.