I started reading ChewyRV's post about upgrading to a newer model RV and decided I needed to post this as a warning. Our 2015 Fleetwood Expedition's furniture started to crack and peel. Now mind you, this furniture has been well taken care of. Cleaned with recommended cleaner and protected with recommended leather protector. No animals and no children. Bradd and Hall in Elkhart told us the "stuff" (play on words)the RV manufactures put in these units is not meant to last. They also told us they are making good money on replacing this so called leather furniture...as a final word on the subject, if you plan on "Upgrading" be careful of the furniture in your new unit. You could ended up down-grading. And as a foot note, Fleetwood reminded us of the "ONE YEAR warranty" And ChewyRV, rethink the Fleetwood part.

The upholstery is NOT actual animal hide leather but a man made product that has prompted many complaints about it peeling and cracking.

Real leather doesn't peel - you have bonded leather and cheap bonded leather at that. Pretty common problem and some mfg may help if you complain long/hard - but don't count on it.

ksg5000 wrote:Real leather doesn't peel - you have bonded leather and cheap bonded leather at that.Yep ! The top thin layer is called "plating".Modern "synthetic leathers" (vinyl) are much more durable. Personally, I like cloth, especially microfiber.

While shopping for an RV in 2018, we found a unit that was in the sweet spot for price and configuration. That was, until the photos the owner sent to us showed slip covers on all the furnishing. I asked specifically about bonded leather failure, and the owner waffled until I asked for photos without the slip covers. The sale site was deleted and I never heard from the gent again. Caveat empor indeed.

I could be wrong but the stuff thats failing isn't bonded leather. It's a bad run of man-made stuff that has been discussed here at length. Sadly, very few are getting much help from either the coach builders who used it or the manufacturer who put the furniture together.

"Leather" coming apart and peeling | Good Sam Community

pigfarmer
Explorer
Jan 13, 2020
You are right, Bruce. That is what Bradd and Hall told us. We've just had some bad "happenings" with our Fleetwood. Added all together makes us think 'no more Fleetwood'...This is our last motorhome anyhow, due to our ages, not the motorhomes'...but if we were to get another one it would NOT be a Fleetwood.
Bruce_Brown
Moderator
Jan 12, 2020
down home wrote:
Our 2005 has the ultra leather and is in great shape. A year or longer later they started using a cheaper ultra leather, or polyurethane I think it is. it was on these forums and others.
We looked at Winnebago, some American Coach and the others and their seat covers feel like the really cheap car seat covers from Japan 30 years ago as well as the seats being smaller and hard and not fitting us.

The stuff in our '08 is still good, thankfully.

In the OPs case I can't say he would have had any different result had he bought another brand. They all pretty much use the same suppliers.
Horsedoc
Explorer II
Jan 12, 2020
UV light is murder on that stuff. Good reason to keep the windshield shade and night shades closed when you are not using the coach
jorbill2or
Explorer II
Jan 12, 2020
Ultra leather and all the other cute names in almost all coaches /rv’s aren’t “real” cowhide. They are synthetic. In most cases it will do ok. For several years all the manufacturers used a “bad run “ of the stuff. It wasn’t just Fleetwood. Flexsteel I know used it , not sure about the higher end Villa manufacture. This has been , as said , known for several years with several threads in it in all the forums. There has been some luck getting it fixed in the past but word is those days are past.
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Jan 12, 2020
pigfarmer wrote:
Wow SidecarFlip...do you want to loan me a million dollars? We have a beer pocket book. Even at that, when you spend that kind of money on a diesel pusher you don't expect it to fall a part in less than 5 years. It looked like leather, it felt like leather...not being a leather expert we didn't know what we were getting. I just want others to be aware and don't make a mistake like we did.

No problem, I'll write you a check....lol

Keep buying those Super Lotto tickets and you might have a winner.

Candidly, we have friends with one and it not only has real leather seating, it has a marble bathroom with gold plated fixtures too. For 1.75 I expect no less.
pigfarmer
Explorer
Jan 12, 2020
Had they been honest and told us it was NOT leather, we would have opted for cloth. But no, you think leather will last and material (cloth) will wear, had it been a $99,000 diesel, we wouldn't have been surprised, disappointed or felt 'used". But Fleetwood got one over on us. Key word here being "ONE"...never a Fleetwood again!! Beware my friends...beware!
dougrainer
Nomad
Jan 12, 2020
Just because OLDER models have the problem does not translate to ALL models having this problem. Tiffin had this problem years ago. IF you have an older out of warranty Tiffin, they will recover at no charge if you go to Red Bay, Alabama. If that is not want you want to do, they will send you the covers and you will have to pay the local upholster to do it. There was probably a large bad batch of the Pleather that went out to ALL OEM's that used that brand. It has nothing to do with how you take care of it. Doug
down_home
Explorer II
Jan 12, 2020
Our 2005 has the ultra leather and is in great shape. A year or longer later they started using a cheaper ultra leather, or polyurethane I think it is. it was on these forums and others.
We looked at Winnebago, some American Coach and the others and their seat covers feel like the really cheap car seat covers from Japan 30 years ago as well as the seats being smaller and hard and not fitting us.
mogman
Explorer
Jan 12, 2020
It's the same stuff you get on your massed produced car, "Pleather" plastic leather.

I worked for Honda for 25 years and the driver's "leather"seat bolsters were always cracking from constantly getting in and out of the vehicle.

Genuine leather would add thousands of $$$ to the price.
pigfarmer
Explorer
Jan 12, 2020
Wow SidecarFlip...do you want to loan me a million dollars? We have a beer pocket book. Even at that, when you spend that kind of money on a diesel pusher you don't expect it to fall a part in less than 5 years. It looked like leather, it felt like leather...not being a leather expert we didn't know what we were getting. I just want others to be aware and don't make a mistake like we did.

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"Leather" coming apart and peeling

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