If you don't have a 2020, then I don't believe you have the same problem. The fabric in ours was NOT properly treated at the fabric manufacturer. So a glass of water spilled on it = a stain.

And JLR is doing nothing about it other than issuing a TSB with instructions how dealers can wet vac them.

I don't think having to clean and spray treat the fabric seats multiple times a year on a $75k vehicle is a reasonable expectation.

This is in contrast to my 6 year old, leather interior Jeep that spends weeks on the beach at a time, with wet sandy kids crawling over the seats, and the damn interior still looks like NEW. All we do to it is wipe it off and vacuum after a week plus on the beach, and MAYBE once a year spray and rub in a little Lexol leather conditioner.

Not happy about this situation.

 

I've personally moved on from 303. It worked okay as protection but it always attracted dust. I never liked the way it smelled after a day in the hot sun and it says it causes cancer right on the bottle. Spray that, breathe it in, touch it the whole time you drive and inhale the vapors after it bakes in the sun. No thanks, my wife just beat cancer and we don't want more.

CarPro InnerQD is an amazing citrus based cleaner that disinfects and smells great. It has the consistency of water. No oil and no residue at all. Excellent on the dash and trim as a cleaner.

CarPro Perl is a water-based silicone sealer that's matte-finish, high UV protection, dries with zero residue, and it protects like a ceramic coating for a few months depending on the surface. Works on plastic, rubber, leather, engine bits, and even tires. Great product.

 

I have had good luck using Blue Coral in other fabric seat cars. Has anyone tried it on the Defender fabric?

 

The seat fabrics on my First Edition are pretty irritating. Even a water drop will cause it to stain. So I bought the LR seat covers and they are working great.

 

My detailer sprayed some black fabric dye on them looked great for a month or two activity grey again.

 

Guys, I'm ordering mine today. A Defender S 110 with the vegan material...what color should I get, then, and is the fading still a thing? Does anyone have the faux leather material? I wanted fabric, but I really needed the sunroof and you can't have both. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

I thought I would pass along my experience with the Robustec Textile fabric on my Land Rover Seats in my 2020 Land Rover Defender 110 First Edition.

Like many, the Robustec fabric seemed to easily stain just from a drop or two of water and appeared to fade over time too. I found out that this was likely caused by a protective treatment given to the fabric at the time it was manufactured. Land Rover issued a Technical Service Bulletin on this on January 21 2021, which is Technical Bulletin JLRTB02070NAS1.

My guess is that since the material appears to made out of some type of recycled plastic, (perhaps high density polyethylene), the fabric protector would not bind with the plastic fibers. As such, any liquid including a drop of water or two would stain the fabric by causing the fabric protector to rise to the surface of the fabric. This caused the fabric to both looked stained and faded over time. The Land Rover Technical Bulletin recommends removing the fabric protector with a wet/dry vacuum, something like you would use for spot cleaning carpet, a sofa or chair.

I briefly mentioned the issue to my local Land Rover Dealer and they were not aware of the issue at the time and did not have such a machine on hand so I decided to take things into my own hands. I purchased a Bissell Model No 2891 Little Green® Pet Pro Portable Carpet Cleaner. Cost was $159.99 + tax. This is a portable wet/dry vacuum and has two vacuum head attachments, both of which have a built in brush and sprayer. It also comes with a crevice tool attachment too. This is the exact unit that Land Rover recommends in their Technical Service Bulletin. I choose the smaller of the two brush/vacuum/sprayer attachments and simply used distilled water in the unit. I did not add any detergent and simply used the distilled water at room temperature as I did not want to use any warm or hot water as I was afraid it might loosen some glue that might be used in any backing or support material in the seat. I then used the trigger on the wand/attachments to spray a small section of the Robustec Fabric with the distilled water and then used the brush and vacuum head attachment to remove the water. I went over each section of the fabric 3 times and then proceeded to the next section. I found it useful to have a small towel, (I used a microfiber towel), to shield where I did not want the water spray to go and to catch any water overspray and to wipe up any excess moisture on the surrounding leather. I used less than ½ gallon of distilled water for the whole job, which took approximately 30-40 minutes to complete.

Once I finished with all the seats they looked like new again, however since they were not yet dry, I decided to not celebrate yet, as the damp fabric may have just made the fabric color look uniform. I let the seats dry and took a look and they looked brand new again, like when I first picked up my new Defender. No stains and no fading. Like New! I have done this a couple times over the last 6 months and it appears that each time I do it, more of the fabric protector is removed and they stay looking like new longer and longer. Just wanted to share my positive experience in bringing my Land Rover Interior back to NEW.

Note: In reading about this Bissell machine, there are some negative comments about the hose breaking from over bending the hose or putting too much pulling pressure on it. As such, I put the portable Bissell unit up on an 18” high stand directly adjacent to the Defender door I had open to work on the seats and found that I could easily use the hose without putting excess stress on it.

Hoping this is helpful for anyone who wants to get their Robustec Textile fabric back to new and maintaining it that way.

In regard to a stain remover in case you need one, I could not more highly recommend a product called Folex. It has been around forever as a fabric and upholstery cleaner. On my prior RRS I had left my sunroof ajar and then started to spray my car off at a carwash. Suffice to say, I ended up badly staining the headliner when water got into the roof opening. I was extremely upset at myself and figured it was ruined forever. I found out about a product called Folox on a forum, (not sure which one), and gave it a try. Note: I purchased it at my local super market Ralphs in the cleaning isle. I cleaned my white headliner by using a microfiber wrapped sponge, although any white towel would work, and first sprayed a little distilled water on it to get it slightly damp, but not wet. I then sprayed a light amount of Folex on the microfiber encased sponge and lightly dabbed the stain starting in the center of it and slowly working myself out to the edge and then beyond in order to feather it out. Note: Do NOT RUB or you will ruin your headliner, only dab. Shockingly, once my white headliner dried it looked liked new from the factory again.
Hope everyone finds this information is helpful.
My apologies for being overly verbose.

 

Helpful reply, DaBull.

My spouse, who is our self-elected primero cleaner person, has been every so often soaking the seats on our 2020 S model D110 with water and sucking it out, just has you describe. No soap is used. She scrubs it when wet and does not miss a square mm. Then I wait overnight for it to dry and all begins anew, for me to dirty them again. The process continues to work perfectly well.

We spray coated it with fabric sealant once, after the first clean. But, it really did not help much, so she returned to the water flush, scrub and vacuum dry method.

Enjoy !!

 

Hi TriolRowner,
Just what I need too, a self-elected primero cleaner.
I agree with you on not applying any type of fabric sealant to the fabric after cleaning it,
as if I am correct that the Robustec is made of recycled high density polyethylene plastic
or a similar type plastic, a fabric sealant will simply not stick to it.
DaBull