I just bought the car. It was a bit of a gamble as I purchased site unseen (lesson learned). It has 30K miles, one owner with complete documentation. Other than a few exhaust items the car is mechanically perfect with a perfect interior, top, etc... Was described as rust free...however as you can see from the photos below I have my work cutout for me. Any advice in terms of where to start? Cost etc... It looks to me that the sill is surface rust due to an older poor repair (paint mismatch). I can't see any rust behind the sill. Need advice regarding stages, cost, etc.
Note: The left front sill edge has light surface rust as shown..nothing on right side.

 

to start with , around the guards are from stone chips and don't look to bad to repair .At this stage the doors would concern me more , you will need to take the door panels off to inspect properly and this goes for the whole car , under carpets , in the boot , around door hinges and the post basically everywhere .Initially if in hidden areas, inside doors etc etc , the rust is minor or non existant use a spray pak of fish oil liberally , I would also check to make sure that drain holes under the doors are clear.The rust bubbles will need to be removed , sanding , do not damage more paint work than necessary , treat rust areas with a " rust converter " this is a phosphoric acid product so only put on rust areas but a little on paint work won't hurt , just follow directions on container. At this stage explaining " how to " will be a bit premature and dependant on whether you are going to DIY if so you will need more info as time goes on .

 

The rust at the edges of the sills are just from the tires kicking crap onto the paint and pulling it off. Should clean off fairly easy. The door rust is from clogged drains and possibly also from bad door to window seals.

The rear sill/fender wraps in and has a spot that dirt likes to gathers, you have to keep this area clean (just blow it out with a hose when you wash your car).

If you are on a budget, try to find matching paint, clean off all the rust, put some rust encapslator/converter on it, then paint it, then put some 2k clear coat over that. It is around the edge so the paint shouldn't be noticeable. The door looks the worst honestly.

The other sill is hard to tell if it is a failed repair or not. It the pic (at least to me) it looks like someone put a clear guard on it that cracked and failed

 

Dom , I have just had another look at the pics , opened up the pic of the rear fender and could see what appears to be cracking the only thing I can think is that this area has been filled and with the wrong type of product if this is the case it will have to be ground out to bare steel and refinished . This probably goes with out saying but the inside of the doors will need a good clean out especially at the bottom , again it looks like there might be a rust hole right through , I guess you will let us know .On the bright side I would not hesitate to buy an XJS in this condition it can be bought back .......John PS :- I and no doubt others will give a step by step guide to repair the rust and repaint once the extent of the damage is known .

 

Thanks for all the help. Off to visit a good body shop. Comments to follow.

 

Just some clarification..The doors are very solid, no rust at all. The rust shown in the pics is on the drivers side bottom edge of the front fender. All of the other spots are on the lower edges of the wheel arcs. Door drains are in-tact. I agree that a very poor repair was done at some point causing the cracking and worst of the rust.

Lower wheel arc rust with cracking:








Front fender sill (not door):

 

One of your posts indicated you need a 1993 left front fender. I purchased one a couple of years ago that I stored in my attic. It is bright red and has easily repairable damage in and around the headlight. (Have pictures) You can make an offer and pay for packaging and shipping, and indicate shipping method. Send me a PM If your interest.