Oh, trust me, this last winter was no cakewalk with respect to the salt. I used to cringe when I lived beachside in Florida. When the sea breezes blew onshore, I would see a layer of sea salt on my windshield and top surfaces of my S-10 and my wife's Elantra. I washed each vehicle twice a week, and even added a little WD-40 to the rinse water, hoping it would find its way to door jambs, hood hinges, etc.
After being away from Wisconsin nigh unto 20 years, I'd forgotten how heavily the county dumps salt onto the roadways. Not only that, but my driveway has a serious grade to it, and I found myself buying 40 pound bags of salt crystals not just for the water softener, but the driveway, too. So both vehicles were getting hit by salt again, this time from the ground up, instead of the top down.
I had the S-10 up on jack stands last week, to rotate the tires, re-pack, and tighten the front wheel bearings. While I was underneath, I hit the crossmembers, front and rear sway bars, frame stiffener box, rear axle, hop shock mount, tie rods, drag link, and damned near everything else I could with 3M Rust Converter after wire brushing everything. The sheet metal on the bodywork is really thin compared to the stuff on my '53 Chevy 3600 pickup, but looks good from both sides, so maybe GM did a good job with galvanizing and priming this time around. Regardless, I keep an eye out, if cancer's going to strike my S-10, it'll have to be through my preventive maintenance routine.
