Upholstery falling apart despite gentle use

[PanJH]

I know Newmar has had significant issues with the material they specified to the furniture manufacturers. As such, we put covers on the pilot and copilot chairs and on both sofa's and dinette. We managed to get 6 years of use so far, but even with the precautions we've taken, we are getting areas where the material is just falling apart.

I was just wondering if anyone has had the furniture reupholstered and if so, what was the price.

When we get home in a couple months, I'll go to the guy that did my boat upholstery and see what he thinks. It'll also be a good time to swap out one of the sofa's for a couple recliners.

[TJ]

Originally Posted by PanJH

I know Newmar has had significant issues with the material they specified to the furniture manufacturers. As such, we put covers on the pilot and copilot chairs and on both sofa's and dinette. We managed to get 6 years of use so far, but even with the precautions we've taken, we are getting areas where the material is just falling apart.

I was just wondering if anyone has had the furniture reupholstered and if so, what was the price.

When we get home in a couple months, I'll go to the guy that did my boat upholstery and see what he thinks. It'll also be a good time to swap out one of the sofa's for a couple recliners.

First, I would make a call to Newmar customer service and tell them exactly what you wrote here about the "gentle use." While I know you are well beyond the official warranty period, Newmar has been know to stand behind issues like this. And, if they can't help, you are only out the cost of a phone call and a few minutes of your time.

TJ

[lwmcguire]

I haven't looked closely enough to tell how easy it would be to change a seat cover

Over the years we changed many leather KR seat covers due to wear

Ultra leather shouldn't be that much different

[WoodyS]

When we bought our 2008 KSDP, the couch upholstery was fine, but the dining chairs were in bad shape. Our dining chairs have cushioned bottoms as well as fully cushioned wrap-around backs.

A local upholstery shop replaced all the foam padding on the chairs and cut, sewed and attached new upholstery for $90/chair. The upholstery we chose is supposedly "cat-proof" -- meaning our cats can't claw and ruin it. It cost $19.95/yd. and it took 1.5 yards per chair. So our total cost was $120/chair.

We love the new upholstery. It appears to be bullet-proof. And it looks and feels nice. It's some kind of textured Microfiber stuff that the cat's claws can't get into. And once they learned this, they ignore it.

The "Ultra Suede" covers on the two captain's chairs aren't doing well (Sun damage) -- and have already been replaced once by the previous owners.

[britcon]

Join the Club ! 2014 Ventana - Couch disintegrating before our eyes. ( Top layer cracked and flaking off.
Piping around Driver seat fraying off, exposing plastic tubing
Recliner chair - ends of armrests have sharp plywood edge that have cut thru vinyl ( no foam under )
Not what I expected from Newmar coach, or Flexsteel !
Finally replaced chairs with Rec-Pro recliners.

[Tetonchief]

Replaced my recliners in 2017 with new from Lambright factory near Newmar in Nappanee. Almost $1000 a piece but they are holding up great. The original recliners mot only peeled (which Newmar said "you are out of warranty" but they were rockers to and when ever you sat in one it would rock back so far you were looking at the ceiling. My driver's seat started to peel a little too so I ordered a sheep skin cover for it and it is custom made and very nice.
Not very impressed with rv furniture but the Lambright is top of the line and you find it in many top of the line models.

[lass]

Had the same situation with my 5 year old Ventana and called Newmar about the problem and they offered a 50% discount off of their retail price. Well, after some more research, it turned out that I could buy the covers directly from Flexsteel cheaper than what Newmar offered. What I also learned was that the term “Ultraleather “ has become a generic term for this material but Newmar used a product called Halo which peels. My final solution was that I paid for the Captain chairs in the real ultraleather and Newmar replaced the recliner and sleeper sofa with the same material. The new material has the exact color and grain of the old cheap vinyl.

A little history. The real Ultraleather is a Japanese product with holds up where the replacement material is Chinese copy that doesn’t last. So what ever you do, make sure that your understand what you’re getting.

[BirchyBoy]

I am not sure who Newmar uses for fabrics. Winnebago uses Ultra Fabrics for theirs, and they had a bad run of material in 2016/2017. My Winnie is out of warranty, but Winnie & Ultra have extended the fabric warranty to three years after the original expiration date. It is materials only; no install. Both of my cabin chairs are failing at 27 months/16k miles.

It may be worth asking Newmar if a similar situation has occurred.

[Mr JP]

I replaced both the driver and passenger caption seat covers. It`s not a real hard job just take alot of pic`s of each step especially of the wiring. Also if you have heaters in the seats you will have to cut the heating pads from the old covers and glue them into the new covers. Whe you cut the holes for the arm rest cut small holes also for the switches. The flexsteel stickers on the arm rest will need to be peeled off to remove the screws. write or call flexsteel and they will send you some new stickers. If you need I will try to find some pics to post.
Good Luck
JP

[FLJOE]

We began having a furniture issue within our first year. The co-pilot chair had about 2 inches of stitching in the bottom cushion that came apart. No flaking or other defects, just needed re-stitched. Of course Newmar sent it back to Flexsteel and they recovered it.

Now just prior to the 2 year mark the driver's chair has started to flake. When we discovered it a couple months ago Newmar agreed to replace the entire chair. They said they were no longer having Flexsteel recover defective chairs but instead just replacing the entire chair. The problem was our piping color was no longer available and would have to be the same color as the chair color, which is almost a white. I told them both front chairs would not match and they immediately said they would replace both at no cost to us.

I will ask more questions when we are in Nappanee, but it sounds to me like there was a bad fabric run back when our coach was built and now they have switched to a different fabric manufacturer.

I certainly hope so because I would like to think we will get more than two years out of these new seats!