How To Repair Rust On A Sprinter Van Door (2024 UK)

Got a rusty van door & not sure how to fix it?

In this post we will share with you how we removed, treated & repaired the rust on our sprinter van doors – in just 3 simple steps!

If you’re like us, & purchased an older van for your campervan conversion (or in particular a Sprinter van lol), then you’ll probably have a nice bit of rust to contend with inside & outside the van.

Not only was there a tonne of rust inside our van under the floor – both our sliding door & one of our back doors was extremely rusted too.

We knew about this when we got the van, & had agreed that we would get new doors if we really had to.

However, Andrew decided to make an attempt at fixing them up himself, and therefore saving us a bit money!

Even if the ‘fix up’ lasts for a couple of years, & we eventually have to get a new door/s, then at least it saved us some cash in the beginning of our conversion which we could spend on something else.

If this post helps you out with your rusty doors – let us know!

* DISCLAIMER: There are so many ways to convert a campervan, different materials you can use & methods of doing certain things. We are not experts (just first-time van builders!), & we are simply sharing what we have chosen to do & what has worked for us after hours of research. So although we write our blog to help others with their build & recommend products & materials that we have used - please always do plenty of research and do choose methods that you feel comfortable with & that suits your van build & needs!

our very rusted sprinter van door before we fixed it — Our Sliding Door BEFORE we repaired it – EEEK!!

In This Post

Materials And Tools

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Hammerite Kurust Rust Converter

Hammerite Direct to Rust Metal Paint

ISOPON P38 & ISOPON P40

Spray Lacquer

Wire Mesh

Masking Tape

Body Filler Spreader

Sandpaper

Primer

Wire Brush

Paintbrush

To check out all the products & materials we used in our van conversion, visit our Amazon StoreFront!

3-Steps To Repair Rusty Sprinter Van Door

Step 1: Preparation

So the first step we took for both of our rusty doors, was to remove any loose metal on the doors using a wire brush.

Once we were satisfied we had removed as much as we could, we then sanded any areas of rust down to the bare metal, using our detail sander. We used 40 + 80 grit sand paper!

After we’d finished sanding, we then applied the Hammerite Rust Converter to treat the rusty spots on both our back door and our sliding door.

andrew sanding the back door of our sprinter van to remove loose rust — Andrew sanding the back door

andrew applying rust converter on the back door of our sprinter to treat the rust — Andrew sanding the back door

rust converter on our sprinter van door to treat the rust — This is what the rust converter looked like once it was set on the sliding door

Step 2: Repair & Sand

Our back door didn’t need repaired (just sanded and treated), however on the sliding door big chunks of rusted metal had came off, so we attempted to repair these areas!

(You can skip this stage if you need to of course!)

We began the repair on our sliding door by moulding pieces of aluminium mesh to the shape the door should be, on any of the large areas were we had removed the loose metal.

Next we applied ISOPON P40 Body Filler for the holes.

We then sanded that down by hand once it had hardened, using 80 grit sandpaper.

Then we grabbed the ISOPON P38 Body Filler and applied it.

Once it had hardened we rubbed it down with 120 grit sandpaper.