2011 Sprinter RUST

hobie18

New member
I purchased a brand new 2011 Sprinter from a MB Dealer & 1 Month to the day later have rust spots showing all over. I took back to selling Dealer so show & they said they would Monitor this on future visits, service &oil changes etc. This is not a new thing to me as I had a 2005 model and it RUSTED all over & they repainted that van from the rain gutter down but, it bubbled all over the place RUST under all the new paint. When I bought the 2011 van they told me they had resolved the RUST problems. Well they have not, I wash & wax this van as i had done with the 2005. This new van also has been to the dealer now 4 times for transmission SHUTTERING. A bit of a jurking when going about 20mph-40mph. anyway would be interested in hearing from anyone who has had any of these problems. this Issue is a lemon problem & will be going back. looking for a little feed back Thanks Don
 

maxextz

Rollin Rollin Rollin.....
ive had 3 brand new sprinters from 2001 and every one of them had rust spots after just 6 months old.:wtf:
 

Therberg

Member
Sorry to hear that Don :frown: my 03 suffered the same fate.

As much as things change they stay the same...

Instead of having them do a substandard paint job I was able to get $4000.00 back from Freightliner to put into a new paint job when it was really needed.

After touching up the rust spots for the past 8 years the time has come. I now have to decide if it's worth putting the money into a complete strip down of the old paint, etched, epoxy primer and base coat /clear coat paint. :idunno:
 

220629

Well-known member
...

After touching up the rust spots for the past 8 years the time has come. I now have to decide if it's worth putting the money into a complete strip down of the old paint, etched, epoxy primer and base coat /clear coat paint. :idunno:
Sorry to hear this because you don't have the traditional white on rust Sprinter color scheme. I figured my next used Sprinter would be a color other than white so I could avoid the rust popping out. So much for that idea. :bash: vic
 

Therberg

Member
Sorry to hear this because you don't have the traditional white on rust Sprinter color scheme. I figured my next used Sprinter would be a color other than white so I could avoid the rust popping out. So much for that idea. :bash: vic
I'm really sorry to hear of similar problems with the new vans...

Yet another thing to add to the negative column of buying new...

A rust repair and repaint is looking better every day and we are lucky to have a local body shop that has tons of experience working on Sprinters.
 

mawsea

sprinter guru
I bought a 2003 brand new. It sarted to rust in the first year, dodge assured me that what I was seeing was brake dust. I took it in before the warrenty ran out but they refused to warrenty it because they called it surface rust. My van is covered in rust, other vehicles I own have no rust, so it is the poor paint job not the enviroment. Adding the cost of a new paint job was not something I had figured into the $30,000 purchase price and the promised low cost of ownership. If I do paint it that would cancel out any fuel savings over the years.
The way I look at it, is these are known manufacture problems that they refuse to take responsibility for and because of it Dodge and Mercedes have lost my business.
If I could do it over, Dodge would be paying to repaint the van and fixing my transmission shudder that is worse than ever.
 

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jimgarfield

New member
I've had three MB vans no Rust:lol:
Can you tell me about the Festool polish? I have many of their tools, but have never seen the compounds/polish.

I have been looking for a used Sprinter to use as a work vehicle, but the more research that I do finding threads like this one, I'm starting to get a little spooked with all of the problems they seem to have. Or is it the case that I'm hearing only the squeaking wheels?
 

220629

Well-known member
...
Or is it the case that I'm hearing only the squeaking wheels?
First let me extend you a hale and hearty welcome to the forum. welcome2.gif

I'd go with squeaky wheels. Before you choose any vehicle go to some of the forums. I'm betting that you will find unhappy owners and lists of problems for most.

The paint rust is aggravating though. It is not enough of a problem for me that I would replace my 2004 Sprinter with anything else when the time comes.

Buy a Sprinter. Join the cult. If ever you meet Orion, buy him pie. vic
 

Altered Sprinter

Happy Little Vegemite
Can you tell me about the Festool polish? I have many of their tools, but have never seen the compounds/polish.
Hi and welcome, The compounds are not available in the States and it takes quite a bit of work to keep your van in as new a condition as if new.

I have the advantage of being able to maintain my van in almost perfect condition.
Polishing requires the correct tools , Festool is a premium tool as they can last for up to 20 years with no or little maintenance required , such as bearings or bushes.
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My van was purchased new in 2005 and has never been garaged , simply because it will not fit in an older style garage and I can't get up the drive in it anyway.
However the finish you see is the real McCoy.


The first step is to clay bar the van to remove residue form atmospheric fallout, , each polish is for varying states of the paintwork from extra cut through to polishes three of, and one final coating of ceramic based polishes. ,once completed a final mist of prep spray vamooses all traces of excess compounds.
DSC01950 (Custom) (Custom).JPG
The key is the cutting pads from course to fine in either smooth backed pads or the Hologram pads of which the latter removes fine scratches and or swirl marks.
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Three separate Polishers are used , I have only showed one off, to prep the Van from Go to Finsh takes two days so it's done twice a year now due again as Winter is closing in .
To this day I have never found any polish that matches the quality or longevity of Festool products, for maintaining the vans finish. It is used by Mercedes at the factory's and by professional body works for most German models.
Festo mercedes (Custom).JPG


I have been looking for a used Sprinter to use as a work vehicle, but the more research that I do finding threads like this one, I'm starting to get a little spooked with all of the problems they seem to have. Or is it the case that I'm hearing only the squeaking wheels?
Finding a secondhand van with undamaged paintwork. Is not going to happen as most folk just do not maintain the finish on their vans.They say they do like rustroleum touch-up quick type repairs this does not remove rust, it just traps it, the rust must be 100% completely removed before any sub primer is used.

I'd look for white not a metallic finish as this paint has UV sun-blockers in it, and if not regularly maintained it will fail as Seeks the owner of the forum did , clear-overs with Metallica and pearl finish all models fail eventually, and are impossible to touch up with a brush, that's not noticeable.
rad 027 (Custom).JPG
We have both the German and Argentina sprinters, rust is not common.
Richard
 
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bluetiger901

New member
Hi Im new to this forum. I recently spoke to a Mercedes Sprinter sales person and he told me that as of 2010 all Mercedes Sprinters go into a rustproofing bath and that the body is actually turned upside down in this bath. But now that I just read about your rust issues I am having second thoughts about investing $50000.00 in a truck that will start to rust before the warranty ends ???
What do you think ?
 

cahaak

New member
My 2006 has a lot of small rust spots all on one side for the most part. Fairly clear that they seem to be initiating under the paint. The underside of the van looks fantastic in terms of no rust or corrosion at all. This is a passenger model. No rhyme or reason for where the rust is initiating. I have a 2001 Honda odyssey. Essentially no rust and that is even in areas where the top coat of paint has come off. Clearly not all models rust, but they must have had some type of quality control issue with painting, prep, or basic steel, because this happens with no apparent assignable cause.

Chris
 

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