Peeling Seats

Well if finally happened.  The two front seats and power couch are peeling  .   Have already made an appointment to have them recovered at a nearby upholsterer but I am nervous now about seeing other posts where the vinyl/pleather near the cabinets etc. are peeling.  Mine still looks great but so didn’t my seats and couch a few months ago.  I have taken a chance and used Chemical Guys Hydro Leather on the vinyl/pleather everywhere in the coach.  I have used Chemical Guys products before and they work really good so I am hoping for the best.  Has anybody used anything else with any success?

I don't have any answer but a question. How bad are they peeling and can you link to this product you're using? I'm actually considering having the couch and seats replaced they're so horrible looking. A fix would be awesome.

Good luck with your quest.

If there was a means to restore the material you have today, I imagine the peeling would just start in another area.  The only logical solution would be to replace the skins or the seats entirely.  Logic says to consider cloth or 100% real leather to avoid a repeat.

I have dodged that bullet as our 16 year old vinyl seats continue to be peel-free.  I understand the vinyl was of a better quality back in 2007.  Things changed post 2008-2009 recession when the RV industry started importing bolts of vinyl from China.  I wonder if that got resolved yet, or if a 2023 is just as vulnerable.  Cloth seating is looking like a much better choice these days just to avoid the peeling. 

Did I recall accurately that Phoenix has since done away with vinyl seating, now spec'd with real leather?  If so, did they also use leather on the sides and backs of the seats along with the vinyl padded trim throughout the interior?  If not, I wonder how the balance of the interiors are holding up.  Does anyone here have peeling happening on non-human-contact surfaces?

I haven’t seen any peeling in the padded trim yet and I have used the Chemical Guys Hydroleather ceramic protective coating on all of it.  It seems to have helped the other peeling on the seats but hasn’t stopped it completely.  I have already made arraignments to have the seats recovered so that is taken care of.  Just hoping that the hydroleather will help prolong any peeling that may occur elsewhere.  You can buy the Chemical Guys Hydroleather on Amazon or at Walmart.  The price is the same $29.00. 

 I got this picture off the internet a few months ago of a Phoenix Cruiser for sale.  I wonder if a treatment product caused the peeling because it is so severe.  The peeling here might not have been limited to human contact.

Ron, my seats look way worse than that, and so far as I know they have never been treated with a conditioner, so I don't think that is at fault.  Mine are also peeling the the sides and backs, where there is little to no "human contact."
I think it is just crappy material, and agree with you that cloth is the answer.  I've never liked leather or vinyl anyway, always have preferred cloth seats. 

I am the third owner of our PC so I am not sure if previous owners used any chemicals on the seating.  I only used a mild soap and a little water to clean them since we have owned it. My seats are no where near as bad as the seats pictured above but I have heard that once the peeling starts it just gets worse.  I have read about the upholstery manufacturing done on the peeling seats and I can see very plainly what was said when I look at our seats.  They took some material and then sprayed a coat of the pleather on it.  It is a very light coat of spray that they use.  When you look at the seats where they are peeling you can see how thin the coat was.  As for human contact, not sure how true that is.  Our PC only has 24,000 miles on it and was never lived in full time so it had limited human contact.  I think Paul’s seating just got a deal on the material they used and PC owners are suffering the consequences of that.  I know that a couple of rv manufacturers have recovered the seats for free for their customers that had a peeling seat problem.  One would assume that Phoenix no longer does business with Paul’s Seating because they wouldn’t stand behind the seats that they provided Phoenix with which I wouldn’t blame them.  If Phoenix got a good deal on the seats too, oh well, live and learn.  Auto manufacturers don’t do any recalls until someone gets seriously injured or dies and are basically forced to and I don’t think anyone will get injured or die from peeling seats.

I guess the safest route to go is with cloth seating but I like to be able to wipe the seats down if something is spilled on them.  Some are saying that Ultraleather is the way to go but after doing some research Ultraleather only has a five year warranty and is quite expensive.  My coach is a 2015 and the seats have been good for eight years before peeling. So anyone that encounters this problem will need to decide which material is best for them.

Ours looked great in 2015...then horrible in 2017.  Besides the look, they made a mess by flaking all over the place.  I took my PC to the factory in 2018 to have some repairs made (outer rear tire blew and tore up the exterior).  While there I had them redo the seats with leather.  A couple of years later the power couch started flaking.  I disassembled and took it to an upholsterer and had a heavy duty polyester material put on.  So far so good, and it's easy to clean.  We got some extra material to have on hand if the padded areas start to flake.