Thread: Puma Rubber Matting System

Originally Posted by Loubrey

As a lot of people might know, I'm a staunch advocate and supporter of the Puma Defenders and I've expressed many opinions in their defense. My own car has functioned mechanically perfect over the past 3 years and I've had no major warranty issues.

There is however one aspect about them that has disappointed me profoundly, and that would be the quality of the interior matting. While the Puma's matting look spectacular when new, it very quickly starts wearing and in fact disintegrating in high wear areas. Mine's a 2.4 and I'm not sure whether this was addressed on the 2.2.s, but after 3 years I'm having bits of perished rubber and foam blowing around the car. There has been threads on the forum regarding holes wearing in the foot wells as well as people accidently tearing the matting.

I considered taking on LRA for replacement under warranty, but as I'm planning to keep this Puma for a very long time to come, I decided upgrading after-market might be the way to go.

I opted for the Exmoor Trim "Puma Moulded Matting System" as supplied to the MOD (British Army) and my parcel arrived yesterday. I'm pleased to say that I'm suitably impressed (and releaved considering the price!) with the quality and finish.

http://www.johncraddock-trim.co.uk/i...emart&Itemid=3

To compare with the existing Puma matting the following figures:

New matting weight 32.2 kg versus existing matting weight 4.3 kg
New matting thickness 7mm average versus existing matting average 1.6mm (without foam backing)

As an extra bonus its got built in acoustic properties as well which apparently reduces noise significantly.

I'm aware that this will most probably not be a "popular" upgrade, but I'll post pictures in any case as I go on with fitting it.

Cheers,

Lou

Ouch when saw the price.

I have a split in my 2009 Defender on the drivers side seat box right on the corner, very similar to yours, will be interested to see how you go with it and your pending review .

Expensive though, hopefully it is worth it, might have to add it to my lottery winning list.

Pat

Great Post Lou.

I can only say the same about my Defender, however I went back to LRA and had the entire seat/floor, box replaced under warranty, mine was wearing on the corner like yours, but strangely more so on the passenger side.

My 15 year old 300tdi trim was like new when I sold it, must be land rover cutting costs on materials.

What was postage on your kit, $120?

Hi Juddy,

They only offered Fedex as an option @$180.00 (bit of a con as they accept the order with no postage charge and then e-mail you the postage afterwards with a "if you still want to go ahead" option)

It was obviously fully trackable and it only took 4 days to arrive at my door (one missed delivery on Tuesday as I wasn't expecting it!)

So in the end a pretty hefty cash outlay, but with keeping my km's as low as I've managed to date I have to see it as a bit of a longevity investment on the car.

Cheers,

Lou

(PS: managed to speak to one of the Puma development guys back in '08 at the Gaydon Show held at the Motoring Heritage Centre in the UK and yes, Ford held them to very small budget figures on all the "non-critical" development areas of the Puma)

Brand new My13 2.2 - still the same thin crappy rubber matting as the MY09. Interestingly my MY03 TD5 must have the old style - it's still perfect.

Hi BilboBoggles,

Yep, correct on the Td5. Still Land Rover sourced supplier for the matting.

My old 300Tdi's also had near indestructible matting. Massive job to make a small hole for things like switches and the like!

Cheers,

Lou

Good luck trying to get a warranty replacement from LRA. I tried this a couple of years ago and they flat out refused. I even included photos of my Puma floor after 2.5 years vs my previous Td5 after 5 years to highlight the crappy drop in quality. What annoyed me the most is that some of the tears occurred when the dealer was working on the car but I didn't notice them until they started to rip further.

The only solution is to use aftermarket mats or bond a section of rubber from Clark onto the high-wear areas.

after the first week I could see there would be problems down the track with the flooring under the seat so I sewed a leather bead around the top flap and floor then sewed velcro to the front edge to hold it down nice and snug..also the arm rest is low and useless as is, so thickened that up as well .I will get around to moulding a brass kick cover for the top corner of the battery box and electrics..not great pics but you get the idea