Hey guys, I picked up my 01 XJ a couple months back and have started a decent build with lots of time and money involved, as expected. I live in Iowa, so there are the typical rust issues. That being said this Xj is in very good shape compared to the others I've had and seen in the area. I've got the surface rust on the rockers and bottom of the doors that I plan to sandblast and paint in the spring. I ended up just rolling bedliner on my last XJ since it was too far gone to truly fix. My question is what have you guys done to repair minor surface rust and prevent it from coming back?

My plan so far on this one is to sandblast, POR15, and bedliner. I want to keep as much of the body white as I can, is it possible to paint or plastidip over bedliner? I've never read of this being done before. I'm just not a fan of the white on black look if I didn't paint over.

Any input and pictures of what you've done would be very helpful. I'm just trying to see what my options are and go from there. I don't have any good pictures of the rust, but you can just barely see it in these below. The worst rust is on the passenger side which I don't have a picture of at the moment. The worst of the rust was sprayed over lightly with white paint by the PO.

 

I think you will find it is rusting from the inside - out. What looks minor on the exterior is usually a giant hole once all the rot is removed. The only real fix is remove, replace, repeat.

 

I would normally agree based on some of the other vehicles I've had. There are no holes in any of the sheet metal which leads me to believe it's only surface rust as of now. I cut out and replaced the rockers on my previous XJ and don't plan on doing that again.

 

If its only surface rust sand it off and paint over it and skip por15.If its more a street jeep undercoating will work better,If its more a off roader bedliner would be better to use.

 

^X2^ if its really only surface rust.

 

I think maybe monstaliner and other companies may have white bedliner...

 

Prevention: move to the south.

 

I will have to check that out, thanks for the info!

Moving south is in my gameplan but about 5 years down the road.

 

I think replacement rockers are $25.
Maybe you can have a guy install them for you.

 

Yes, Monstaliner makes a whine tinted product. I've got a gallon of it, just waiting until spring! I'm planning on doing the same thing you are....looks like it'll be a three day project.