Leather like furniture falling apart after 3 yrs

[sassy5445]

I have a 2016 Bounder Anniversary class A. The furniture that apparently is not real leather is falling apart in strips. Fleetwood refuses to answer my questions.
About 2 yrs ago it started and is to the point it can only be covered.
Also the side view mirrors are deteriorating.
This RV is pretty much a piece of junk.
Anyone else have the same problem and can we get together and do something about making fleetwood fix this expensive disaster?

 

[AbdRahim]

The furniture is has been an industry wide problem for quite a few years.

 

[J&JD]

Newmar recovered all of my furniture at n/c when it was only 2 years old. Used the same old garbage claiming it was better. Two years later the covers are again failing. Going to have everything redone on my dime, this time with REAL Ultra Leather.

 

[AbdRahim]

Newmar recovered all of my furniture at n/c when it was only 2 years old. Used the same old garbage claiming it was better. Two years later the covers are again failing. Going to have everything redone on my dime, this time with REAL Ultra Leather.

Oh no! I am scheduled to have mine done this spring. Hope they got some better stuff.

 

[J&JD]

Oh no! I am scheduled to have mine done this spring. Hope they got some better stuff.

I would check with Newmar and see if you could pay to get an actual Ultra Leather upgrade. Especially if you can’t be assured that the replacement stuff is top quality.

 

[docj]

RV manufacturers establish price points for "subsystems" such as furniture. The furniture vendors have to mee those price points or they don't get the business. As a result they don't using top tier products such as "real" Ultraleather which costs $60-80/yard or more. There are lots of other polyurethane finished fabrics plus the horrible "bonded leather" imitations. For many RV manufacturers, all that matters is that the upholstery lasts as long as the RV warranty.

 

[Jim]

Newmar recovered all of my furniture at n/c when it was only 2 years old. Used the same old garbage claiming it was better. Two years later the covers are again failing. Going to have everything redone on my dime, this time with REAL Ultra Leather.

That's BS J&JD, Newmar should take care of this instead of making their problem yours.

For many RV manufacturers, all that matters is that the upholstery lasts as long as the RV warranty.

Perhaps at the lower end of the RV spectrum, but Newmar has marketed itself as a (supposedly) higher quality of RV. To adopt this "we got your money so go suck eggs" policy will not serve them well with future sales.

 

[AbdRahim]

I would check with Newmar and see if you could pay to get an actual Ultra Leather upgrade. Especially if you can’t be assured that the replacement stuff is top quality.

Thanks for the tip.I just sent them an e-mail. That has to be totally frustrating. It seems to be an art to keeping these things in the campground and out of the shop.

 

[J&JD]

That's BS J&JD, Newmar should take care of this instead of making their problem yours.

Even if they offered to redo everything a second time, we just don’t believe they would use top grade material. We love our coach and plan on keeping it many more years so we have decided to spend the money and have it done to our specifications. Not fiscally great but it is what it is.

 

[MapNerd]

Just caught the same issue this evening and sent an email to Newmar. We’ll see how it goes…

Back to @sassy5445’s original question, I am afraid you are most likely going to be out of luck. Fleetwood has never been particularly great with regards to warranty but to make matters worse, you are 6 years post sale. I have heard of Newmar and Tiffin and other higher end manufacturers stepping up on units that old but never Fleetwood or Thor. I would be very surprised.

My best suggestion for you if if it’s just furniture and the RV is otherwise fine, cut your losses, visit an IKEA and make it yours. As for the mirrors, start another thread and show us some pics of what’s going on. Lots of very creative and ingenuitive folks on here.

 

[J&JD]

Thanks for the tip.I just sent them an e-mail. That has to be totally frustrating. It seems to be an art to keeping these things in the campground and out of the shop.

Thanks for the tip.I just sent them an e-mail. That has to be totally frustrating. It seems to be an art to keeping these things in the campground and out of the shop.

It is disgusting, as we are not full-timers. When our coach is at our home, I put down any shades where sun can come in to protect the upholstery. We live in a very moderate climate. Our first coach was an Alpine, great driving machine, but not built as well as our Newmar. However, the upholstery was real Ultra Leather. We had it for eleven years, and the only damage was some wear on the driver seat arms. Judy

 

[NWIP]

I would check with Newmar and see if you could pay to get an actual Ultra Leather upgrade. Especially if you can’t be assured that the replacement stuff is top quality.

I tried to get Newmar to use Ultrafabric material we have on our theater seating which we purchased thru Lambright. They said they it was not available through there supplier after I pressed them when they said material was no longer available. I was told I could have it recovered on my own using material of my choice or chose material they have and they would do at their expense.

I selected from about 40 samples they supplied, and if it doesn’t last I’ll just do it again at my expense.

 

[Jim]

I'm obviously in the market for another RV, and we've pretty much decided on a 2018 Dutch Star. Pricewise, it's in the ballpark of what we're willing to spend. Problem is, I don't want to buy one and inherit this problem. Is there any way to know if the seats are going to start self-destructing prior to purchase? Was there a set of options that were more likely to be problematic?

 

[NWIP]

I'm obviously in the market for another RV, and we've pretty much decided on a 2018 Dutch Star. Pricewise, it's in the ballpark of what we're willing to spend. Problem is, I don't want to buy one and inherit this problem. Is there any way to know if the seats are going to start self-destructing prior to purchase? Was there a set of options that were more likely to be problematic?

Very nice choice for your next coach. Unfortunately I don’t know if any options less susceptible to the problem. I think the welting on certain furniture coverings is where it has a tendency to show up first and the front seats being high use are likely to be noticed first.

 

[MapNerd]

Not as far as I can tell. Seems to me that every model has been affected at some point. The best option might be to find a unit that has already been recently reupholstered, though that’s no guarantee that it won’t happen again as many folks have been impacted two or more times.

The real problem is that I’ve not seen Newmar take care of any secondhand owners.

 

[Neal]

My driver's seat happened what seemed overnight. All of the sudden flaking. The passenger seat which is never used didn't really have signs until I knew what to look for, threads cutting into the material knowing it's "dried out" and going to flake once any use occurs. My sofa lost its "elasticity" kinda like old skin. It was fine, it didn't flake, but it was a sign of a problem to come. So in the end, you can inspect and what may be good today may be bad tomorrow. There is nothing you can do here and even with mine just being reupholstered I'm betting I'll face this problem again.

 

[Steele]

I'm obviously in the market for another RV, and we've pretty much decided on a 2018 Dutch Star. Pricewise, it's in the ballpark of what we're willing to spend. Problem is, I don't want to buy one and inherit this problem. Is there any way to know if the seats are going to start self-destructing prior to purchase? Was there a set of options that were more likely to be problematic?

Perhaps look to see if you can find a coach that has upgraded coverings already? I don’t want to jinx myself, but we upgraded our furniture to Essex coverings when we built our 17. We have been fulltiming for 4.5 years at this point and have no signs of deterioration yet. Might be a needle in a haystack, but if you have a choice in available coaches maybe one will have better fabric.

 

[Russsilber90]

I have a 2016 Bounder Anniversary class A. The furniture that apparently is not real leather is falling apart in strips. Fleetwood refuses to answer my questions.
About 2 yrs ago it started and is to the point it can only be covered.
Also the side view mirrors are deteriorating.
This RV is pretty much a piece of junk.
Anyone else have the same problem and can we get together and do something about making fleetwood fix this expensive disaster?

We had 2 2006 Bounders, seats last great back then. They were rented out when not used by family.
Our 1999 Dutch Star has cloth seats and furi. Still looks factory new. Cheap stuff is now the way to go

 

[J&JD]

I'm obviously in the market for another RV, and we've pretty much decided on a 2018 Dutch Star. Pricewise, it's in the ballpark of what we're willing to spend. Problem is, I don't want to buy one and inherit this problem. Is there any way to know if the seats are going to start self-destructing prior to purchase? Was there a set of options that were more likely to be problematic?

We are having ours redone at Bauer Rv Upholstery on our way back home from our trip to the SE. the owner has all the Flexsteel patterns, so everything is sewn and ready to go when you get there. They only use real Ultraleather. They will also ship the skins ready to put on. Since they have the patterns, the cost is not horrible. It will be around 5k. We just have a couple of bad spots, but are going to have all done. We love the coach, and plan on keeping it. If you find the perfect coach, you could factor that into the negotiations. Judy D

 

[MapNerd]

Ah yes, I forgot about them. Lisa Bauer bought up all the Flexsteel supply when Flexsteel exited and started her little business. She’s killing it. I had to get some actuator motors from her for my theater seats when one died. 1/3 the price Newmar wanted. She is super helpful and yep, she has all the Flexsteel patterns. Maybe others too. With regards to Flexsteel, what she doesn’t have, she knows where and how to get it.

In fact, for my recovering Newmar told me they were ordering the replacements from Bauer Upholstery. So it’s truly the same thing you would get from Newmar. 7-month lead time though. Good for her!!