Honestly, just noticed it the day I posted. I've been sooo busy with the kids and work plus doing things on the house that I haven't given it the first hand wash of the spring. Shame on me!
When you look at the car standing up you really just see a little spot that looks like dirt since the lower door curves in so much. It's when you bend down and open the door that you really see it. During the winter I only hose it off at the local pressure was.
I won't let them just "fix" it....They will need to replace the door with a new one. Nothing off of another car either. But we are getting ahead of ourselves...My first hurtle is getting Jaguar to acknowledge the flaw.

#1 Jeff: How the HELL could you have not noticed this before. I would say shame on you BUT why the hell would you have to worry about an 05 luxury car rusting after all.
#2 I am about to vomit violenty just looking at those pictures.
#3 Send those to Jag corporate IMMEDIATELY and tell them its a freaking 05 and this is COMPLETELY unacceptable, you are a member of a very repected Jaguar forum/club, and that you expect satisfaction.

You will get that fixed for free, even if I have to get involved and go to bat for ya!

I loved my 2000 Grand Cherokeee, too bad the trasmission had to be rebuilt 3 times...

Jeff - I think I'd PREFER a door off another car, so long as it was originally factory painted the color of yours. A newly painted door probably won't be as well painted.

But - I'd want a used one inspected properly, including from the inside

That is a very interesting point...As you are right in the fact that the factory finished door would be better finished than a replacement..Hmmm.

I cheated: I've a mate whose car door was damaged and he got a replacement from a local breaker. Perfect color match. And stayed that way as the car aged. (Not a jag, though.) So, I didn't originate the idea.

I disagree. Get a new door. A used door may have been sitting outside in the rain on a salvage car for months or years. An excellent body shop can match up your paint so well that you won't be able to perceive the difference - they certainly did with ours even though I told them it would be impossible to get it close enough to fool me. They took that as a challenge from me, and I'm glad they did. Plus, you probably won't be keeping your S-Type long enough to have to worry about paint issues down the road. But more issues with rust on a used door - that's another story entirely....

I repeat - get a new door. You'll sleep a lot better at night....

+1

That's what I was trying to say earlier, plus its a relatively simple affair. Especially if you get the right year door complete with glass etc Disconnect 5 wiring harnesses, feed the harness out, pull the hinges, hang the new door, - SWAP your driver door module for your original one, and voila all is well again. Even the best painter can't lay paint the way the factory can... My X-type is proof of that now

George

Yup...Agree..to a point..I have seen resorations done better than any factory could do.but that was based on the older technology. I don't know of any body shop that has the high tech equipement that the factory does....
Now, about your X..What happened? You didn't use Caruso's did you???

I got $3400 from the ins co. Based on a local high end body shop's estimate. I decided it wasn't worth it to put that much money into an 03 X-Type with 110k miles, which I use as my commuter / winter car. The car is probably worth less that double that.

Decided to take the check, got a used deck lid and bumper cover from ebay. Deck lid was the right color, bumper wasn't. Cost $450 delivered.

Got a used left tail light from ebay, cost = 85.00

Hung and gapped everything myself.. Cost = A six pack and a Saturday

Took the car to a friends shop to paint it. This guy paints hot rods and other crazy stuff mind you and has a very good rep. He sprayed the car for $300. He actually blended the quarters and redid the deck lid too cause he . The paint LOOKS good, but has a bit more orange peel than stock, and it's almost like at least on the bumper, the paint looks too "new" relative to the rest of the car. From 10ft away the car looks great, when you get up close to it, well you can tell. If you're picky like I am. But all said and done it cost me under $1000, and I saved $2400 into the "car fund". For a rainy day. I think I'm going to have the paint professionally machine polished to get out the years of swirls and clearcoat blemishes, to see if that helps it. I'm also tempted to buy the porter cable buffer and the pads and some stuff and see if I can learn how to do it, the X-type would be the perfect candidate.

George

So, here is the update...

Met with the District Manager for Jaguar.

Door covered under warranty.

Sorry for such a boring update. It was actually that simple. He looked at it. Asked if it was ever hit. Looked at it again. Turned and told me that Jaguar will cover it under warranty.

Mike said, "call me in the morning and we'll set it up".

I guess the only words of wisdom at this point is......Be nice, smile, and actually get to know your dealer...

Oh I almost forgot.... It was nuts over there, Rick, so when I take it in for the repair I'll talk to "the parts dude" about the parcel tray anchor covers.

Also, I'm going to kid them about giving me the 2011 XJ they have sitting there with the dealer plates on it as my loaner..... Yea right!

Hey, good result! OK, it should never have rusted like that but good on Jag for doing the right thing!

Handled exactly as it should have been. Probably a week to get the new door, two or three days to paint and clearcoat it, another couple of days to get it hung and trimmed out. So by early June, this issue should be behind you....

WTG Jeff, I am glad to see that Jaguar is standing behind this one!

It's nice to hear good news .I don't think it's a boring update at all
Kudos to the dealer , they just made the things easy and smooth

Sounds good... I really didn't think they could make a case for not covering that. Make sure u go over the car top to bottom, maybe even pull a door panel or two, because I can almost bet you this will be your one and only shot at the corrosion warranty.

George

Have done so a bit. Will do more with Mike when I bring it in.

Talked with Mike. The car is going in Tuesday the 1st and they plan on having it the rest of the week. He said they need to take things apart and document where the failure was and submit that to Jaguar. Sounds like they really care about what may have caused that door to fail like it has.

Rick, I hope you are following this... I talked with the parts guy as well. He said you can get the LATCH covers, he just needs the three digit trim code and they are $34.00 each. Hope that helps... I'm pretty sure Mike will knock a few bucks off if I ask..

I believe that at that price you are getting the whole assembly. Scott Jaguar is high in pricing, but since I have taken Wayne (parts rep) a few bottles, my prices have come down a wee bit!

Thanks for inquiring Jeff.

Quick update since the saga isn't over. Well, I got the car back yesterday. They repaired the existing door instead of replacing it. After their explanation, I was satisfied with the logic behind the decision. So, the reason the saga isn't over is the body shop that they contracted to do the repair would make a high school auto shop look good. I've laid paint on mud flaps with spray cans better than they did! So, Mike agrees that the work was terrible and I will be scheduling another appointment. Needless to say, I'm not liking my ride at this point and writing the payment check is now going to aggravate me....This is a bad spot for me to be in...I tend to replace when that happens...

On a lighter note..My loaner was a 2010 Land Rover LR2. It was loaded up with premium sound and nav. It only had 174 miles on it whenI got it. It is a pretty nice vehicle for a crossover with a transverse mounted inline 6 and AWD. If anyone is curious about it, just ask..