base vehicle

HI There

I am looking at A/S Mercedes van conversion.    I realise that Mercs are a well established  car manufacturer but I have seen  some of their vans and they look a bit like the Transit as far as rusting is concerned.

I there anyone out that can enlighten  me if this is th case, or not!!


Cheers 

ANDY

I have owned and drove most vans during my working life but not a Mercedes, we bought our first mh a few months ago a Mercedes motorhome  couch built on a sprinter chassis, it is brilliant to drive i only wish i had bought one when i was working, as for rust I'm sure they are better than a transit. Those germans know how to build motors to last. Hope this helps.

Hi

It was sold

Andy

Rust/ what rust 1998 Montana[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

What fascinates me is the comments on rusty Transits may be applicable to older ones which also applies to the Sevels but the bulk of the front end on Mk7 trannies is plastic how does that rust (front of sevels is also plastic)

Walked past an 08 Mercedes sprinter panel van parked at the quayside in Cowie near Stonehaven 
The back door had rotted through ( holes as big as a fist) wheel arches rusted and the rest of the body was in a sorry state.
Not all Mercedes are rust free.
Boaby

Salt sea air plays havoc with ferrous metal. The Forth bridge used to be a legend for needing constant painting

Above was tongue in cheek really, The 90's Vito was just as bad as most for panel rust. Front wheel arches and door bottoms..Mine had surface rust and left as it was for a year or two would have meant replacing or welding. Underneath it looks very good considering where it was parked up when I first saw it which was on grass under a tree. Took me ages to clean off the moss, dead leaves and other detritus.

Agree re. comments regarding rusting on Transits........but my van is the LE model so Dinitrolled from new, and it's worked as all wheel arches are original and rust free. Not bad for a 17 year old van, but certainly the metal Ford used is extremely thin gauge. Rear door bottom edges are a problem area, also the scuttle.

Ford did a lot during the last couple of years of Mk5 production to address the rust issues. Prior to that another common problem area were the driver's and passenger's doors, which would rust just below the join between the fixed and drop glass windows. They completely eliminated that (in my experience) during the latter years of production.

They also seemed to do much better with the scuttle area, although - as has been pointed out here numerous times - the plastic "leaf trap" that sits over the top part of it means it needed all of the rust protection it could get!