Mate I have a corsair. Just rip them off if you want.
On my car there is no lip only a indent in and then back out, but this is in the metal. To fix you would need a bit of bog, some metal sheeting to cover over the majority of the lip area(the bog is to smooth it out) and a bit of patience. It looks allright without the black strips.
Have a look at the members rides section at some other cars, I think it is mostly TRX'S that don't have the rubber strip. Try and find Noss's white pintara T (??), it has white wheels, is white and has no rubber strips except on the bumpers. It looks absolutely fantastic.