Hi All, looking to maybe purchase this '98 XJ. Dealer sent me the following pics of the undercarriage. Would anyone be concerned about the level of rust underneath?

Thanks for your considerations.

 

Those pictures, really any pictures, are pretty useless. You need to crawl under the thing with a flashlight and a screwdriver or ice pick and do a serious rust hunt.
in any case don't commit to anything until you see it in person.

 

For all you (we) know, the dealer sent you the best pics. What exasemech said. You need to pick, poke and tap to check the integrity of the panels. It may look OK, but there could be a lot of bondo in there.

What area of the country are you and the Jeep located?

At least it has a new muffler.

 

For me, yes I would be concerned. But I loathe rust and won't buy anything unless it is rust free. I will accept a little surface rust on suspension components as I can remove it or replace the parts.

However, generally with what I see folks working with on this forum, that doesn't look bad from what I can see.

 

I am with the Old Man on this.
Seen much worse.
But also with exasemech that those picture don't really show you squat.
The one thing that does stand out is that pinch weld, think that is what it is called, in the one picture looking pretty rough.

 

I agree the best scenario would be to be there in person looking at it but at least here the bottom isn't all freshly painted or coated. I get that is what you do to help prevent rust but on a vehicle that is forsale it just seems like a good way to hide or cover up problems.

I personally though would have to check out the condition of those frame rails in person and if they aren't rotted. I would fill em up with some type of rust converter like ospho then coat them

 

Thanks for all the replies! I'm passing on this vehicle, and will continue my search.

 

The best way to tell how bad the rust is... is by peeling back the carpet. Any other way won't show the true amount of rust. Obviously, you can't do this if it isn't your vehicle. You have to make an informed decision. It is easy for someone to paint over rust to try and hide it. Almost no one is going to paint under the carpet because it takes a bit of work to get the carpet out.

Get underneath the vehicle and apply pressure with your hands if you see something underneath that doesn't look right.

 

So it sounds like I should just spray Boeshield underneath my vehicle so future folks can see the original painted metal vs painting everything black?