What do you make of the swirl marks on the frame? Something to be suspicious of or repair work? Thanks!
just a shitty paint job, it could mean he sucks at painting, or he's trying to hide something, or both, it's hard to say. All by itself I wouldn't pay much attention to paint, period. I'd look at it and feel it in person, that's the only way you'll know what's going on for sure, absent clear indications in the photos that there's trouble (for example, holes, detaching control arms, bulging, flakes that can be seen through the holes....).
Edit: by the way, 'suspicious' should be your default position for any TJ these days, to be safe. Prove your suspicions wrong, hopefully, with an in-person inspection. Never, ever assume anything when dealing with vehicles of this vintage, particularly ones with the TJ's well-documented issues as related to frames and rust in general.
Edit: by the way, 'suspicious' should be your default position for any TJ these days, to be safe. Prove your suspicions wrong, hopefully, with an in-person inspection. Never, ever assume anything when dealing with vehicles of this vintage, particularly ones with the TJ's well-documented issues as related to frames and rust in general.
A crappy paint job. Someone was probably trying to get rid of surface rust and took the paint down to bare metal. Sadly they tried to paint over it and did a terrible job in the process.
Those are helpful but I should have clarified..im interested to see what's under the paint.
Is this a potential purchase?
I have to assume rust is an issue in your region so I would be very suspect. I doubt the seller would be willing to scratch some paint off to show what's underneath but might be worth a try.
I would also see if he can get you pics of the inside of the frame that would tell you alot
I would also see if he can get you pics of the inside of the frame that would tell you alot
If you decide to make the trip and don't already have one, get an inexpensive endoscope/inspection camera off of Amazon and inspect the inside of the frame.
Rust is an issue in our region. Hence my hesitation. Seller claims it was a Maryland Jeep for 10 years. Last 6 years in Wisconsin. I’m waiting on a CARFAX to confirm that.
You could get lucky and maybe a member is close enough to inspect the jeep before you make the drive?
if nothing else stick your finger in there (front back and both sides) and if its nice and smooth inside you should be good. If it's all scabbed up walk away. if your finger comes out wet with oily substance odds are you found one somebody has taken care of. went and looked at one for my brother last week. 1st thing I did was finger the frame really good ! jeep turned over and horn started going off, so I knew it was good to go ! 
Maryland isn’t going to be any better than Wisconsin for rust issues.
It's possible somebody treated it with fluid film and just wiped it off and didn't use acetone before painting, that could cause those streaks !
looks like some gooey bed liner or undercoating, appears to thick to just be paint.
Maryland is part of the rust belt, maybe not so much from losing steel plants but definitely what happens to cars there. I'm not saying it's rusted to death because of 10 yrs there, maybe the seller just thinks Maryland is a good selling point because this Jeep has little to no rust. Who knows?
Whatever the selling points are, those pictures aren't showing extra metal welded, bolted or screwed on (yes owners can be that bad) and I see no holes but if there are any holes they could be filled with bondo and painted over. I bet that's not a problem near the lower suspension mounts because there'd be alot more questionable things going on where the skid plate mounts. Your second picture does show the skid plate not exactly flat between the bolts and does seem to be showing some hidden rust between the center bolt and the bolt to the right. Here's a picture of one of the four chunks of rust I had between those bolts. They were all a little under 1/16" thick and I'd say I was lucky enough that it was about 1/32" from the frame and 1/32" from the skid plate and pounding on both with a BFH left no dents so I sanded, primed, painted all of that then Fluid Filmed between them when reinstalling. 4 yrs later and no problems but I do re-add the Fluid Film every fall.
Here you can see the difference between the two layers of rust, IIRC the two holes were part of the skid plate and the solid part was part of the frame.
if nothing else stick your finger in there (front back and both sides) and if its nice and smooth inside you should be good. If it's all scabbed up walk away. if your finger comes out wet with oily substance odds are you found one somebody has taken care of. went and looked at one for my brother last week. 1st thing I did was finger the frame really good ! jeep turned over and horn started going off, so I knew it was good to go !
Very helpful. Thanks!