Hi, Tom!

I live in Penna., so I live with the stuff as well. Get yourself some ramps and drive the front end up. Crawl underneath and take a good look at places where you've got pain chipped off, incipient rust, or, if you've got asphaltic undercoating already, it's peeled off.

Attack the rusty spots with the POR-15 system, then, when everything is all clean and dry, spray liberally with a spray can of 'plastic undercoating'. The 3M product is a good one. Other folks advocate commercial treatment; I've had no experience with it.

During the winter, try as much as you can to hose off the underbody after driving through salty slush. Get up into the wheel wells, the front strut spring pans, the outer surface of the spare tire wells -- anywhere that salty water may get trapped. This may require your going to a commercial car wash if your hose is frozen up. Generally where I live we get a few days in the upper 30's within a week of any given snowstorm so I can get water to run through the hose.

In the spring, when it looks like snow/salt season is over, get the car back up on ramps and attend to any flaws which may have formed over the wintertime. Then, right about this time of year where we're still getting daytime temps in the 70s (so paint can dry) check again.

If you keep at it, you'll be OK. My original two 245s were rusty when I obtained them, so I feel like the dam was already breaking on me and it's hard to keep ahead of the rust. Two years ago I bought a 244 with an immaculate underside, and after two winters and regular washing and attention, it's still immaculate.

Rob Kuhlman