FWS? Keep those floors clean!

[jl2000]

There have been many posts on how the FWS has damaged the floor tiles or scratched, dented the vinyl flooring. Here is my experience from purchasing a new Bay Star with floor damage.
Don't count on a PDI or walkthrough to catch very much. Most dealers just don't put in the diligence and you have so many things you are trying to absorb during a delivery walkthrough that it will be hard to see cosmetic damage.
I noticed the scratches and marks on my floor on the first trip out. Along with a few more items, I arranged for warranty work as well as the floor repair. The dealer found additional floor damage so now, 7 of the large vinyl tiles will need to be replaced. What was the primary cause of the damage? Most likely dirt and debris under the rollers. My model has 5 rollers that roll across the tile and at least 2 more in the carpeted bedroom. My model was at the dealer for several months and a demo at a large RV show so the slides were extended multiple times with dirt and debris on the floor. Additionally, one roller has dented the vinyl. Think about it, this huge slide puts pressure on those rollers as you are going down the road. Floor protectors will help and they should have provided those. Now, Newmar will provide them as a result of the floor damage.
Bottom line - keep your floors clean and depending on your model, try to wipe off those rollers. Also, get the Newmar protectors or make your own using cut up indoor/outdoor mats from Home Depot. What have you done to protect your floors from the FWS?

[Bushy]

I totally agree. It's a pain in the butt to put down those protectors and take them back up but it saves the floor. Over the years, I've broken some and purchased some. I've now learned to re-bend the remnants of protectors that have had the bent end broken off. That saves some cash. I carry some spares just in case.

[fhmac]

I'm very interested in this thread. I also have a Bay Star 3124 with the full wall slide. Care to enlighten the ignorant about "floor protectors" and/or "indoor/outdoor mats" from Home Depot? Any and all specifics and details will be of great help. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Thank you gentlemen.

[jl2000]

Originally Posted by fhmac

I'm very interested in this thread. I also have a Bay Star 3124 with the full wall slide. Care to enlighten the ignorant about "floor protectors" and/or "indoor/outdoor mats" from Home Depot? Any and all specifics and details will be of great help. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Thank you, gentlemen.

FHMac, the floor protectors are made Newmar PN 135043 and are called tile protectors. I think that they cost $21 each. My Bay Star will need 5 of them. On a similar slideout thread, someone mentioned that they took some mats from home depot and cut them into 32" X 10" strips. Here is a link to the HD mats: https://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficM...0500/202072107
I am waiting to see how the Newmar protectors will work before I make my own.

["007"]

Any slide with rollers will damage the floor under it from the vibration from just riding on our good highways.
We had a 98 MACA with a small wood floor just near the kitchen counters and LR slide when closed the rollers would set on the wood floor didn't take long to realize the wood floor was going to be scratched or dented from dirt or stones, the Kitchen was cleaned before slide was moved in.
To keep floor from loosing its finish a tile was placed under roller, had to do same thing when we had a 2003 rubber tile floor so main floor never showed the wear of a roller.
You can sweep the floor but we found a Dirtdevil vac that the handle closed in itself for storage and would do floor and rug we had which made it a lot simpler.
So not much has changed since 98 you just have more rollers to deal with,FWS, but the dirt is the same whether a old or new coach.

[knightstorm]

Has anyone tried to clean the slide rollers? I checked with Newmar and the procedure involves blocking the top of the slide out and bringing in the bottom far enough to access the rollers. This is described in the instructions on replacing the rollers. IMHO any coach with slide rollers should come with a set of floor protectors and instructions on how to use them.

I see people complaining about scratches on porcelain tiles, but the vinyl tiles Newmar uses on the Bay Stars have a very thin wear/color layer and are even easier to damage.

[jl2000]

Originally Posted by knightstorm

Has anyone tried to clean the slide rollers? I checked with Newmar and the procedure involves blocking the top of the slide out and bringing in the bottom far enough to access the rollers. This is described in the instructions on replacing the rollers. IMHO any coach with slide rollers should come with a set of floor protectors and instructions on how to use them.

I see people complaining about scratches on porcelain tiles, but the vinyl tiles Newmar uses on the Bay Stars have a very thin wear/color layer and are even easier to damage.

On the FWS that use a ramp, you can clean them by retracting the slide a bit and using something like a swifter to clean the rollers before the slide starts up the ramp. I would think that it takes a bit of effort but I’m willing to give it a try.. However the main culprit is the debris that we bring in on our shoes. As 007 mentioned this isn’t a new problem but I was disappointed to see it on a new motor home before I even used it.

[Beach Livin]

Originally Posted by jl2000

FHMac, the floor protectors are made Newmar PN 135043 and are called tile protectors. I think that they cost $21 each. My Bay Star will need 5 of them. On a similar slideout thread, someone mentioned that they took some mats from home depot and cut them into 32" X 10" strips. Here is a link to the HD mats: https://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficM...0500/202072107
I am waiting to see how the Newmar protectors will work before I make my own.

Same concept. We use door mats from Ikea

KÖGE
Door mat, gray, black, 2 ' 3 "x2 ' 11 "
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/koege-d...lack-30287939/


They work great for us on our tile floor no need to pick them up for an overnight stop. But not sure they thick enough to protect a vinyl or wood floor.

[superman11]

Originally Posted by knightstorm

Has anyone tried to clean the slide rollers? I checked with Newmar and the procedure involves blocking the top of the slide out and bringing in the bottom far enough to access the rollers. This is described in the instructions on replacing the rollers. IMHO any coach with slide rollers should come with a set of floor protectors and instructions on how to use them.

I see people complaining about scratches on porcelain tiles, but the vinyl tiles Newmar uses on the Bay Stars have a very thin wear/color layer and are even easier to damage.

I agree 100%. We bought 9 for our 4037 when we were at the service center. We were seeing damage after only one season. A 2018 4037 was having half of his vinyl tiles replaced - on his dime. They should be standard. My advice - get them ASAP.

[sgwyble]

We purchased stair treads from Home Depot. Similar to those in the link. They stay in place and protect the floor. One reason I picked this set is they are only 0.2" thick. A lot cheaper than the official floor protectors.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ottomans...1-14/206991253

[mvintx]

I noticed floor damage during the PDI on my Bay Star and the dealer corrected it upon a return visit. My wife is a fastidious housekeeper so the floors are usually pretty clean. Yes, I can see dents in the flooring where the rollers sit in the retracted position but I can live with it. And no, I don't plan on putting anything under the rollers.

[Earl II]

This forum gave me the idea to ask Newmar for the five protectors for the hard floor. Now we have them and will keep using them.

[JMH]

One other note: make sure you clean the underside of the floor protectors. They seem to attract a lot of dirt.