Foam pad is jamming paper feed

The foam pad at the bottom of the printer the paper feeds over is torn at the side where the ink cartridge carrier parks. It is raised and jams the paper (which makes the tear larger. Am I right in assuming that this pad cleans the cartridges prior to printing and therefore absolutely necessary? Is a replacement pad available (what isthe correct name and/or part #). Wfould hate to have to scrap otherwise functioning machine because of this. Phil C.