My husband and I are going to be moving to Rhode Island from the Seattle area, and I have no experience in dealing with road salt. How do I care for my A4Q in the winter re the salt? Any other cold weather tips?

I live in Chicago. Lot's of experience with road salt. Make sure you do a complete detail in late fall (Meguiars #7/#26). I usually do mine over Thanksgiving and again in mid-Feb.<p>Frequent cleanings -- touchless car washes once it gets too cold to do it by hand. I try and get mine cleaned once a week once the snow/salt hits the ground.<p>When we break out of the winter cycle and into spring, make sure the underbody is thoroughly washed.<p>And, if possible, try and avoid driving around immediately after a snowstorm (when salt is all over the road and being kicked up into the air).<p>HTH<p>AG

The beauty and one of the main reasons why I own Porsches and Audis of recent vintage is that they do NOT rust, unless someone did crappy bodywork or somehow compromised the zinc skin. (Same goes for MBs, too.)<p>MY 1987 944S is still in perfect shape, no surface/body/undercarriage rust (not even on the original exhaust) after 123,000 miles and twelve years of Illinois winter salt-parties. But the wheels and paint may thank you for at least washing and waxing them regularly, just to keep the salt from crystallizing and becoming an unwanted rubbing-compound on your car!<p>Now, my '85 Mustang GT and my wife's '89 Celica rusted even with painfully anal care. Always at the fender edge or the window moulding. It drove me insane; all the care in the world couldn't keep them perfect. I didn't like those odds, especially since I keep my cars for a LOOOONG time, so I'm never ever buying another car that isn't COMPLETELY plated at the factory. The Mustang has "galvanized lower body panels", but whoop-dee-doo, a lot of good that did me. Plus, they welded the exhaust with regular rods, so the welds rusted through after 50,000 miles. That ain't gonna happen with the Porsche or the Audi . . . . . <p>(Sorry, I had to get on that soapbox!) ;-)

The wonderful world of "anodized" metals. The potential of the half cell reaction for the reduction of Zn is so much less (more negative) than most metals, Zn protects nearly everything: it is easily oxidized (gives up electrons to become an ion). Common sense usually prevails in understanding metals - Au are you kidding?, Ag a little tarnish, Cu OK if you like green, Al so,so (forms a "protective" oxide layer), Fe watch out, Zn forget it. Old underground tanks would have just a wire cable attached to a block of Zn. The electrons flow from the Zn block preferentially, that is until all Zn is gone. Give it a go, scrath your car deeply through the Zn and see if you get any significant rust. Or, you just may have to take my word on this one.