Vladds

The other day, I was cleaning the GLA 45, noticed that the rear fender liners are made out of this weird material that resembles felt.

This got me curios, walked over to the C63 and, you guessed it, felt as well.

As an engineer, I can't help but be curious as of why was this material chosen, what does it do?
Anybody have any info?
And this is in both cars only for the rears.

Jasonoff

To cut down on road noise.

Vladds

I like this idea.
The GLA comes with 240 rated rubber.
Barely harder than chewing gum in my limited experience.
What the 240 does, is even in temperatures in the 50F, picks up pebbles like it's glue.
And driving in the parking lot, constantly flings them at the liners.
This makes a sound similar with the car picking up a stray steel wire that has wrapped around the axle.
In the beginning, driving the GLA I had to stop and look for a steel wire.
But this was front only, because the felt silenced it in the back.

go team

If you’re a detailing geek you can spray the felt with fabric protector, it makes it much easier to clean.

Vladds

I am and thanks.
The felt is a beotch to clean once it has mud on it too.
I even thought that the factory wants the mud to adhere to the felt, thought it's an eco thing.

BalanBro

Yea, it's to help reduce/dampen the noise of a small debris impacting against the fender liner. It's actually used by a lot of luxury auto manufacturers. My wife's Land Rover has it as well.

Jasonoff

My Trailhawk has it and it's brutal to clean after wheelin.

go team

Yup it is. I took the liner out cleaned well and sprayed with fabric protector like there was no tomorrow. I can actually finally see clear water run off during car washes now 👌

BLKROKT

Or you can just remove them if they bother you that much