I agree. I hate these sponge-style wheel well liners. I imagine it's for sound proofing, but yikes.
I'll pile on...I was bird hunting in central SD this year and had to deal with some wet, unimproved roads. If you haven't experienced it, the soil there is an extremely fine silt that turns to a greasy, sticky mess when even small amounts of water is added. It is an extreme challenge to drive in. The locals won't go near it...but, if you are after birds...you might do crazy things....
Turns out the furry fender-liners are a huge disadvantage when driving in this mess. This mud will stick to everything: tires, boots, paws, chassis components, running boards, etc. However, in my experience the mud will usually "shed" off of "smooth" fender-liners once it reaches a critical mass, or the friction from the rotating tire will peal it off of the fender-liners. But, the furry fender-liners allow the mud to adhere to them in a freakish fashion. After about 300 yards of travel in these conditions, the wheel wells on my '20 FX4 completely filled with mud, tight against the tires, in the rear, the mud packed so tightly against the top of the tires that the suspension began to extend because the packed mud between the tire and fender-liner was LIFTING the body and extending the suspension!
I had to stop the vehicle, jack the truck, remove the rear wheels and physically remove the mud from the fender-wells, in the field - while my hunting buddies were shooting birds...I'm not normally prone to violence...But, if the D&R Engineer who spec'd the furry fender-liners had of been handy, bad things might have happened.
So, I would be very interested if anyone finds an aftermarket, or legacy part solution to this issue. I would think that whatever supplier is currently manufacturing the parts could simply mold the parts in poly-pro without adding the flocking. The parts would be cheaper and easier to make, then aftermarket them for a ridiculous price, and I would pay it.
