Rusty Vans

[Hendry]

I've noticed a fair few modern vans recently rusting already, and not in places they've been damaged, like in the aperture for the rear number plate, mainly 60/11 plate Sprinters and Transits, not really seen many French vans (or their Vauxhall/Nissan badge engineered cousins) rusting but pretty much all Transits/Sprinters/Crafter's.

 

Are they made with really cheap shit quality steel or something?

[derskine]

Sprinters seem to be epically shit.

[tooSavvy]

I hear people blame 'water based paints'... but, allegedly*, the paint is A1.....

 

TS

[twosmoke300]

Most vans seem to be built to do big miles in 3 years and that's it .

[Asimo]

Not built for salt resistance. Go somewhere salt free and even an Austin J4 can last 53 years.

 

http://www.custojusto.pt/viseu/ligeiros-passageiros/austin-morris-j4-14847843

[sierraman]

The company I used to work at once had a 4 year old transit welded up on the sill.

[Felly Magic]

Vans don't really have any form of anti corrosion treatment, which I think is pathetic bearing how much they cost these days

[Mr Lobster]

Vans typically have a lot harder life than cars and manufacturers don't really expect them to last beyond the point of starting to rust anyway so don't bother with much in the way of anti-corrosion measures it seems. 

 

Transits and Sprinters seem to be the worst from what I've seen. Early 2000's examples can be incredibly rusty by now.

[HMC]

Theres the well publicised water based paint/ insert a reason that affected merc commercials, after a few years hard use a sprinter could look a right mess when the mechanicals were still only just about run in.

[twitcherman]

I was going to have a camper custom built a couple of years ago. The builder wouldn't use Sprinter/Crafter because of rust problems, he recommended the Sevel (Relay/Boxer/Ducato) as it's galvanised.

[bub2006]

I was following a 59 sprinter out of derby the other day. Back doors seemed to be held on with prayers and the bottom of all doors where heavily corroded. Wheels were rusty and it smoked like a 1.6 astra

[D Spares & Tyres]

The French and Italians are clever in that they use a zinc undercoat (rather than actual galvanising) on the outer panels only but don`t bother underneath.. The result is the general public sees a Fiat Ducato van or Tempra or something and it looks mint on the outside but less so underneath.... Ford and Mercedes don`t seem to care either way...

[mat_the_cat]

The paint seems to be generally thinner as well, regardless of the quality/type of paint. So coupled with a lack of much rustproofing, general lack of care etc it's no surprise that they rust!

 

Interestingly, my old workplace in the early 2000s had a few vans and one driver in particular took great pride in his (2002) Transit. Always washed it every afternoon at the end of a shift, whatever the weather (as he said, he's representing the company image out on the road) whereas the others were rarely if ever washed, as there was no rule to say they had to be. His was in vastly better condition bodywork wise by the time it got to several years old...

[2MB]

The 2- and 3-year old transits I use for work have more rust on them than my 28 year old merc 190. They do have a hard life though, and washing them with a pressure washer doesn't help the paint to stay on. That said I'd be mortified if if bought one brand new. Some of the Sprinters would make a rat_look wanker green with envy tjough

[scruff]

The cab on my 02 Sprinter was pretty much shot, no-one will be surprised to hear. The Mitsubishi Canter, three years older, had one blemish from a stone chip.

 

Not really related but I've been reading through eighties issues of TRUCK magazine and it was fairly common for Volvo tractor units to have whole new cabs at not more than ten years old. 

[stephen01]

My 06 Boxer is not so bad on the rust front, just a little bit inside the front wheel arch, with 145k under its belt i don't think its so bad.. 

 

One of the main reasons I didn't buy a transit was because of the rust, as much as i wanted to buy a MK2 transit and have it welded up and sprayed I needed a work van that had to be functional and look smart parked on some old giffers drive not several different colours while going through a restoration. 

 

But yes you do see a lot of new vans rusting but 90%* of these vans are written off for tax reasons after 3-5 years so they dont really care anyhow. 

[catsinthewelder]

The ply lining boys don't help much.  We pulled up the floor lining in a 64 plated Transit Custom recently to clean out a spillage and found rust around the self tapper holes.  Whats that going to be like in 5 years time?

[dieselassist]

ridiculously thin metal, basically; the use thin metal n either double skin in a lot of areas or intricately press n stamp panels like inner door frames... the price of steel doesn't seem to matter with modern manufacturers; they just seem to prefer the thinnest gauge available...

[wuvvum]

Agree with the comment about the Sevel vans - you rarely see one with huge patches of rust on the outer panels like you do with Sprinters, Vitos and Transits.  The floors and chassis rails usually last OK too - it's places like inner sills, crossmembers, inner wings etc. which tend to let them down.

 

I think there may be something in the comment re manufacturers not expecting vans to last long too.  I read somewhere that the VW Crafter van can now only be ordered with a 2.0 TDI engine.  That's the engine out of a Golf, to haul a van that presumably goes up to at least 5 tonnes GVW (or at least the old LTs did).  It's going to be royally fucked before it reaches 60,000 miles.

[Hendry]

Its odd because you seldom see a really rusty Movano/Master, or Relay/Boxer/Ducato (based on the Ducatos we have at work that's likely because they spend more time at the dealers with mechanical issues than they do on the road) or Vivaro/Primastar/Trafic or Scudo/Expert/Dispatch.

 

It really does seem to be Transits, VW Crafters and Transporters, Merc Vito's and Sprinters, the Fiesta van and Transit Connect aren't anything like as bad as Transits, in fact even Transit minibuses and the 8 Seated ones (Tourneos?) Look far less rusty than the panel van ones despite being the same base.

[gordonbennet]

They don't need to have anti corrosion, people still buy the shit no matter how bad they rot (no different to people buying overrated new cars with well documented problems from couldn't give a fuck makers/dealers), they're just a necessary expense and written off in x number of years to fleet buyers,  considering how many get spanked every day rust is statistically probably not what writes most of them off.

 

It's the small business that wants them to last, so you'd think they'd have the nous to invest £400 in professional rustproofing when new, but the rustproofer who did my Hilux, who had just completed aTransit for someone, couldn't remember the last commercial van he treated.

[Partridge]

I echo what Mat The Cat says. We have a couple of 59 plate Ivecos and one Sprinter at work, all are washed once a day, and none of them are rusty at all. Yet I was following a filthy 2011 plate Sprinter, and the rear doors looked half eaten on that.

[xtriple]

At a firm I worked for we had ten Mazda vans (L2000 ?) all petrol engined. When my boss suggested getting them I thought he was bloody mad...

 

The vans were washed every Friday and serviced once a year (not doing big mileages) and they NEVER went wrong. Apart from body damage which they did incur, but was always repaired properly and promptly (all sign written so the company did not want 'tatty' vans out and about) they never rusted. I still see one of those vans about now, with a private plate on and it still looks great, still the same company owner.

 

They were replaced with new Transits when they were about six years old.... oh dear.

[Split_Pin]

There's 2 56 plate Iveco Daily Crewcab flats been put out for scrap by the local streetlight maintenance company. Stripped out wrecks look strange with a relatively recent numberplate. Nearby is also a facelifted Transit on a 56 plate abandoned, last taxed in 2012. I'll wager the Transit is rotten underneath.

[MarvinsMom]

the problem with vans is exactly that on alot of cars, cheap and thin paint, poor or non-existant seam sealing, and the makers knowing that there will be another mug through the door in a couple of minutes

[Richard]

It's not that long since six years was a good innings for a van.

 

This 08 plate Iveco isn't too rusty but it looks as if it's been off the road for a while.

 

[Hendry]

Its a bad day though when a 30 grand Merc van (to put this info perspective, they also affix that badge to "prestige" cars costing upwards of 50grsnd) is fucked after 4 years, even old LDV 200/400 series and mk4/5/6 Escort vans managed to last longer before starting to look rough.

 

I think they're ugly as sin and no doubt mega expensive but if I had to buy a new van it'd be a Toyota Hiace, bulletproof and see to last a few years before looking like bangers.

[garbaldy]

I don't think I would buy a transit now not after the state of the ones I've welded.

they seem to go at the spring hangers and that will be the thickest steel, I've seen this on 5 trannys now all 04 on,

this one is an 06

[Lacquer Peel]

Its a bad day though when a 30 grand Merc van (to put this info perspective, they also affix that badge to "prestige" cars costing upwards of 50grsnd) is fucked after 4 years, even old LDV 200/400 series and mk4/5/6 Escort vans managed to last longer before starting to look rough.

 

I think they're ugly as sin and no doubt mega expensive but if I had to buy a new van it'd be a Toyota Hiace, bulletproof and see to last a few years before looking like bangers.

 

I don't think you can buy a new Toyota HiAce in Europe, it's been replaced by a re-badged Sevel van.

 

If you're after a Far Eastern van, the Hyundai iLoad seems good, iDiotic name aside.

[Hendry]

I don't think you can buy a new Toyota HiAce in Europe, it's been replaced by a re-badged Sevel van.

 

If you're after a Far Eastern van, the Hyundai iLoad seems good, iDiotic name aside.

Aye you're right, I forgot I'd seen a Toyota badged Citroen Dispatch at the local Toyota dealers a few months back and had to do a double take.

 

That's another thing, what is it with manufacturers all badge engineering the 1 van, Ford seem to be the only ones not doing it, Merc have a rebadged Kangoo in the Citan and the Sprinter and VW Crafter are the same thing, Pug/Citroen/Fiat vans range are ALL three same. Barring the Doblo being different from the Berlingo/Partner. The ones that annoy me most are Vauxhall however as none of their vans have any Vauxhall in them, they are all other companies vans with badge engineering, the previous gen Combo may have been outdated and not particularly good but at least it was a proper Vauxhall, not a Doblo they hadn't even bothered to put a slightly different nose on. Then killing off the Astravan when they could've easily made a new one out of the latest shape Astra Estate.