Rust spots on my white 2008

Yes it has been a tough winter in Pittsburgh, PA. I haven't owned my Sprinter for a year yet and the other day after spraying off the van I noticed small specs of rust coming out on the paint. Called the dealer and was informed that soap and water will remove those? Never knew soap and water was a rust remover. He continued to tell me that they would only cover rust-through and that was as far as Chrysler/Mercedes would go. He blamed it on coatings used in Germany!

Anyone else have this problem?

Thanks,

Rob Blair

- also have small pin rust spots and my Sprinter is well waxed and I live in California

Mrdi,

Lets see how many others can chime in!!

Did you contact anyone about this yet?

Rob

I think the Sprinter exterior finish is not as good as their cars. I picked up mine last fall from AZ and went through it carefully when I got back. Several places where panels were joined needed to be touched up and I expect ore when I detail it this spring. My E320 had none of these issues and it seems the paint was applied with much more care than the Sprinter. My F350 on the other hand, (which sees the worst weather), has a nice thick coat of paint, (still shiny original paint since new), that looks like it could have been put on with a roller and blown with a backpack blower to level it out, (standard American orange peel).

I had the same...I think...?

That's absolutely bizzare if it was rust.

I blamed it on some crud from the road after driving around in a snowstorm. It was only after that when I noticed. I had never seen such a thing on any of my other vehicles, though.

I used some turtle wax polish to remove it. Took maybe a half hour and some elboe grease to clean up the whole van. I used some diluted rubbing compound in a couple spots, followed by the polish.

Maybe something from production?

Seems rather weird to me that rust would somehow form on the surface of the paint. Anyone know better here?

I don't think it was rust, in my case.

If a dealer is suggesting it's removable with soap and water, probably not in that case, either...

I have this problem as well, mine has just turned twelve months old and is white, funny thing is i also had the same problem with my vw lt35 which is white, that i brought new back in 2004, tiny little spots that look like rust around the door jams and over various parts of doors and body panels. Very concerned as you would be i took the van to a vw dealer that deals with body repairs so they could inspect the spots and come up with a answer plus put the problem right (van was only a few months old at this time ) after inspection i was given an appointment to see the vw body and paint rep a few weeks later, the rep inspected the paint work and looked at the spots and asked me if i lived by a railway line that had electric trains running on them, i said yes its about 40yrds from my house where i park the van, thats your problem he said, its not the vehicle rusting its small particals coming off the electric wire every time a train comes by and these particals rest on the paint work surface which gives the impression that the vehicle is rusting. He said just wash the vehicle often and polish out the ones that dont come off with washing it wont be a problem, i went away thinking what a load of you know what, but, true to his word my vw has not got rust probs, so i am thinking this is the same problem with the sprinter as they do wash out and the stubbon ones i polish out.

"Rail Dust" is the term I was given by someone "in the know."
Had it all over a 2003 2500 I had embedded in the paint.
Agreed, the white paint is terrible, but the red, rusty "dust" came out
of the paint with a bit of elbow grease (compound) and a polishing wheel.

Once per year I clay my Sprinter before waxing. It is amazing how many tiny metal particles are in the clay.

I guess "rail dust" would make a lot of sense - moving these things from the east coast to wherever they get distributed locally.

In any case, my problem is completely gone.

I'd be careful of rubbing compound and any power tool. Rubbing compound is pretty aggro stuff and needs to be followed by a finer polish if you don't want the tiny scratches to be visible. On clear coat, it should be a last resort, as getting the rubbing compound scratches out is probably more work than spending more time with something finer.

I once had the tiny rust spots on the horizontal surfaces of my fiberglass boat! It seems that someone up wind of me on the dock was cutting some steel with a hack saw and then filing the surfaces. The steel particles from such types of metal work or machining are so fine that they can be carried in a good wind. They land on horizontal surfaces and will stick to vertical surfaces if damp. Then it is instant tiny rust spots. Generally these are one time events and are easily cleaned up.

My spots are not surface residue
Appear more like mini blisters that have erupted and the metal underneath is
visible and oxidized with rust apparent.
They are also on vertical surface.

Mrdi - what did you use for wax?

My van was coated with this rail dust that erupted into millions of rust spots all over the hood and horizontal surfaces. Apparently, these vans are exposed to the elements as they are being transported. I haven't seen any sprinter with plastic protective sheets on them as they do for cars. The dealer sent my van out for some clay bar action about 6 months ago and all is well so far. I wash my van weekly so the rust was quite prevalent at the time.

Mrdi can you post a photo of the offending blisters? (On your van, that is!)

Chandlerazman said:

My van was coated with this rail dust that erupted into millions of rust spots all over the hood and horizontal surfaces. Apparently, these vans are exposed to the elements as they are being transported. I haven't seen any sprinter with plastic protective sheets on them as they do for cars. The dealer sent my van out for some clay bar action about 6 months ago and all is well so far. I wash my van weekly so the rust was quite prevalent at the time.

Mrdi can you post a photo of the offending blisters? (On your van, that is!)

Click to expand...

Sorry
Cannot post pics
cleaned and treated, then painted the voids with touch up.
There were 5 or 6

I posted on this around a year ago. The term "rail dust" is a term from when cars are shipped across North America by trains. The train wheels in contact with the rails and brake shoes left metal
filings floating in the air and settling on the paint finishes. The fact is that the metal filings on the paint of your vehicle can be from many sources. Metallic brake pads in contact with rotors, pollution
fall out or transportation. The metal filings settle on the paint and stick. With humidity or rain they become noticable when they oxidize, turn to rust. It happens to every car, it just happens to be
noticable on our bright white sprinters or my pearl white Mazda 5. Clay bar works great but can be a lot of elbow grease on a big vehicle. I acid wash my Mazda every spring with a bug mit. I use a
special mild acid that is specifically designed for "rail dust" Spray one body panel at a time and let sit for a minute and wipe with bug sponge and rinse well with warm water. Finish it of with a sealer
and glaze and paint is showroom shine, smooth as can be. Unfortunatly I aquire this product from the dealer I work at. Unsure if it is available to general public. The bad part is if these rust areas are left for several years they can break through your paint and start the panel rusting. Hope this helps answer some questions.

I am taking my van to a mercedes approved body repair shop this week to get a estimate for some slight damage done by an idiot in a car who decided to overtake me as we approached lane conning from three to one lane for road works and kissed the rear off side panel with his wing mirror, i've got all his details and will be insurance job i will ask the repair shop to inspect the rust spots at the same time and as them their opinion as to what they think causes it and how to treat the problem

rayl said:

i will ask the repair shop to inspect the rust spots at the same time and as them their opinion as to what they think causes it and how to treat the problem

Click to expand...

Just don't forget to have the shop bury the expenses of repairing any rust spots to the idiots insurance. heck, get your whole van painted to make sure the repairs blend in

I have a "08" Sprinter bought new June "09".Within a couple months I notice tiny rust spots the size of pin points, all over. Dodge dealer said it is "rail rust" from transportation. They had a body shop rub it with some kind of clay. Looked ok. Within a few months I started noticing the rust spots showing up again, not necessaraly in the same spots. Again they used the clay. Now rust spots are showing up again. The person I spoke to from Chrysler recently asked if I live near railroad tracks, and that could be the problem, and that would not be covered under the warranty?????????? What a dip sht. From reading the other posts I now see this is not an isolated problem. Somebody has to take responsibility for this major flaw. I' ve seen 5 year old Sprinters with rust spots the size of silver dollars. This is what mine will look like. A class action suit may be what we need, but who has time for that. Lemon Law may be an option. 3 or 4 times for the same problem, and the vehicle is considered a lemon. I am not going to end up with a rust bucket after paying top dollar for this van. Question is who is responsible, Dodge or Mercedes?

rust cancer said:

Question is who is responsible, Dodge or Mercedes?

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For the terrible paint quality, Mercedes, the white paint stinks. As to who, if anyone will take responsibility for it ($$)............Good Luck.

There are several other colors that are no cost options.

Perhaps those colors would make better choices for the dealers ordering inventory.

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