Same Issue on my RTR
Can't believe I had the same problems on my Losi. Ended up doing the exact same thing. Cutting off the hubs with a Dremel. Didn't think of calling Losi though and just swallowed the bill.
Upgraded the complete car from chassis to titanium everything, stainless screws etc.. and now, I am the happy owner of a Losi 8 2.0 + 1 highly modded Losi 8B with everything you can think of to make it what I should have bought in the first place.
I couldn't even get my wheels off at first!!! Used all kinds of tools to fix that too...