Replacement for carpet wheel well/fender liner???

[pnwdon]

The used 2021 Stealth Limited Expedition that I recently purchased came with a carpet-like wheel well liner. Does anyone have suggestions on replacing these liners with a more traditional plastic liner? The carpet just absorbs tons of water on rainy days and then dumps it all on my garage floor. Road debris like leaves and junk are also a pain to get out of it.

Thanks!

 

[Andy B]

The used 2021 Stealth Limited Expedition that I recently purchased came with a carpet-like wheel well liner. Does anyone have suggestions on replacing these liners with a more traditional plastic liner? The carpet just absorbs tons of water on rainy days and then dumps it all on my garage floor. Road debris like leaves and junk are also a pain to get out of it.

Thanks!

I agree. I hate these sponge-style wheel well liners. I imagine it's for sound proofing, but yikes.

 

[ROBERT BONNER]

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.

 

[Hssst]

I have the same problem with my 2018 Expedition Max. Driving through mud I packed my drivers side rear wheel well full. In trying to free the wheel found that the mud packed both sides of the liner. after digging out the mud I found my liner distorted and rubbing against my tire. I found plastic liners for the F150 but not for the Expedition. There has got to be a replacement somewhere.

 

[whtbronco]

Sounds like the same crap my son-in-laws Focus ST has under it that looks like a skid plate, but is just a fiber air dam. Unreal that would be used as an inner fender to me. Any chance you could remove them and have them coated in bed liner or something else that's a bit less porous. Maybe that's crazy thought, but it's what came to mind.

 

[ROBERT BONNER]

Sounds like the same crap my son-in-laws Focus ST has under it that looks like a skid plate, but is just a fiber air dam. Unreal that would be used as an inner fender to me. Any chance you could remove them and have them coated in bed liner or something else that's a bit less porous. Maybe that's crazy thought, but it's what came to mind.

I considered removing them while I was in the field; but, there are just so many places for mud to pack around. i've been hunting central SD for decades. Over the years I'm sure I've driven personally or traveled with literally dozens of Gen I and Gen II Expeditions and Navigators in the same conditions without issue. In fact, the original Torque on Demand systems combined with conventional limited slip, zero drive modes and NO "Roll Stability Control" was a very effective combination for these conditions. We used to amaze the locals by how far we could go with those vehicles.

Clearly the fender wells in the gen I and gen II's tended to be slippery and they "shed" the mud, rather than giving the mud thousands of times the surface area to adhere to with the flocking.

 

[ROBERT BONNER]

I have the same problem with my 2018 Expedition Max. Driving through mud I packed my drivers side rear wheel well full. In trying to free the wheel found that the mud packed both sides of the liner. after digging out the mud I found my liner distorted and rubbing against my tire. I found plastic liners for the F150 but not for the Expedition. There has got to be a replacement somewhere.

I'm still looking for a replacement without luck. Will post if I find one. I know it sounds crazy; but, I've considered taking an electric razor and "shaving" the fur off of the fender inners....not sure If I could get close enough with all of the radius's.

 

[5280tunage]

not sure around you, but around me there are jeep shops that make a lot of aluminum and steel fender liners, generally for things like CJ's etc; and I have no idea what that would cost these days but that might be an option, you could get it painted to match your exterior color. probably not worth it though compared to just buying a new fabric one. I do know a lot of these are carpeted to try and cut down on road noise a little bit.

 

[NevadaGeo]

Might be easiest to just spray undercoating or gloss bed liner on them and then you are good with mud falling off or not sticking much.