Thread: New "90"?...Seat box "corner wear"?

Hi Pickles,

Yes, unfortunately Ford during their brief period of ownership employed their "cash over quality" mindset to some of the Defender's trim, the very poor quality matting being one. The Puma Defender's matting will start to go brittle at about 6 months and will very rapidly deteriorate after that. I don't think anyone can report that at 2 years their's are not in the process of expiring at an alarming rate?

I investigated options and while you can do custom jobs with products from Clarke Rubber, I opted for the bespoke replacement from Exmoor as per the previous post.

Parcel service from the UK was pricey because of the 2 piece matting's weight, but I recalled that you asked about UK Spec style carpeting before as it'll be your wife's daily drive?

I can recommend EXmoor's products for quality if not economics...

Cheers,

Lou

I've definitely noticed this, my 90 is only six months old and that part of it looks years old! I'm going to get a piece of aluminum angle and pop rivet it along the edge of both the drivers and passenger sides to stop it getting worse. I previously had a 94 model 110 and it seemed to be much tougher than this, even when I sold it the corners along the seats looked like new. Maybe they've changed the type of plastic used now but it is deteriorating very quickly which is disappointing for a vehicle only six months old.

After 13 year it will look something like this:



I believe that the Exmoor trim route is the way to go, certainly make a comfortable nice looking seat trim kit. I have also been looking for those metal corners that used to be fitted on old leather suitcases, but have not found any big enough to cover this type of normal wear.

All Puma's suffer from this and it can only be put down to a "lowest bidder" issue on the matting supply during pre-production tender. Even brand new the stuff will snap when "folded".

The surface wears badly, but the bits you use regularly like the seat box flaps actually start falling apart.

Thankfully Ford sold Land Rover as IMO their approach to enduring and lasting quality would have done the marque's image and therefore market share irreparable damage...

Avion8 - Have a read of this link from the start as I've done the UK MOD matting conversion sold by Exmoor and I've got quite a few pictures in the thread -

Puma Rubber Matting System

Cheers,

Lou

Thank You all for your input, and as usual Lou....thanks.
As I've said, I'm new here, haven't even got the 90 yet, I guess I'm just trying to get as familiar as I can with all issues Defender before we take delivery...because Wifey & I know very little at the moment.
So, with that in mind!.....I thought the term "matting" was what was on the floor....like a rubber/carpet "mat"?.....but,do I take it, that when you guys refer to "matting", you are referring to the "boxing" material around the seat box...which goes from top to botom of the seat box?
Thanks, Pickles.

Hi Pickles,

The Land Rover rubber mats sold as accessories are possibly still the best mat sold by any 4WD brand. They have not changed and should last almost the life of the vehicle.

The gripe is about the rubberised "carpet" that cover the footwell floors, transmission tunnel and the seat box. The floor and tunnel won't actually produce issues if you've got the OME rubber mats.

The big culprit is the seat box bit wearing on the corners and the "flaps" to the under seat access hatches.

Being pretty much square there are obviously more economic solutions that Exmoor's military grade solutions.

Cheers,

Lo

Has anybody had any warranty success with this rapid wear and deterioration issue?

Ours went after 2 years, on the corners, took it back to the dealer, no problem at all replaced it fOC.

It will go again in a few years me thinks.

My 1996 Defender that I sold a few years ago, was like new on the seat box.

The materials have changed are and are a lesser quality these days.