To mudflaps or not

My 87 dl had plastic mudflaps in the back. It ate the rear quarters at a young age.I eventually used them to hide the body problems, for they were that tough. My 93 loyale needs something back there, it has nothing. All summer with body work, and one trip down a gravel road at high speed revealed a rear quarter in need of help. Should I softer mudflap than old dl or no mudflaps? One way or another it is taking a beating someplace. The stuff I have in mind is for a truck bed liner, I used it for floor mats and have some left over. Very tough. It outlived the Chevy "C" or "K" series pickup truck it came from by about 20 years(go figure!), and I even found it outside sinking into the forest floor.