Hey Bill, In the area i live, this salt will eat your vehicle in half I was under my buddies 06 F350 4x4 checking the starter and it looked like a 30 year old vehicle. The mechanic had to torch the bolts to get it off. So yes salt is a major issue up in here in N Michigan.

As far as the sensor issue, I too have a harness problem and the wheel sensors often go before the bearing starts making noise.I don't change them due to sensor failure but when they make such a noise and start heating up. I wish I knew what the problem with Aleros is but I had to change it out just after I bought the car out of lease and waranty at 36 K.

Back to the salt issue ,as a warning to others. The rack and pinion - steering gear, is set on a thin tin mount welded on the subframe, and many have rusted off as mine did recently. The sub frame even has a large valley that salt sand water can sit in and to top it off the AC drain hose is right over the R-P. Did a search and found others , some driving down the road and the steering locked up and some got in accidents. I was lucky I was in my driveway when mine ripped off the mounts. Thanks for your reply

the only thing i have seen here different is sometimes if they know its going to be alot of ice they will spray a blue fluid, but must be expensive because they seem to use it sparingly. the newer vehicles(2000+) i have been told dont have any undercoat at all any more. i get mine done with zeibart its very effective, its expensive but they do free resprays and warranty against corrosion where gm doesnt

I recall years ago Ziebart was advertised a lot on TV, havnt heard about it in years but I would definitely have it done on my next newer vehicle. My brother had a van his wife was driving in upstate NY and hit a pothole and the suspension broke off from rust damage and the front wheel collapsed in. If I recall the minvan wasnt that old and mechanically was sound, it was hauled to the junk yard. If I wasnt able to fabricate new mounts for my steering gear assembly it would have been scrapped too. No garage is going to fix it and short of a new sub frame, which was fine .it isn't worth fixing due to expense, I imagine there are more than a few junked before their time. I don't recall my older vehicles doing this years ago but they used more steel too. So yes ,a guy who keeps a car a long time needs to consider the rust situation, as up here the engines long out last the bodies.

Plain old water can do a lot . I have 2 of my jack points rusted threw , will have to replace my rocker panels someday.

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if you are talking about washing it i have mine washed every week, there is a place with undercarriage wash and a $20/mo wash as much as you like plan it doesnt help. you have to put some kind of under coat on it. my bonnie, my yukon, and my firebird all have it not sure if it was from gm or someone had it done but it makes a huge difference as they get older

no, I meant that just plain water can create its own rust. I think that is how 2 of my jack points got rusted out, not good drainage and they rusted from within. I suppose that some municipalities still use sodium chloride and if you live near saltwater. There are some places up north where your car can fail inspection if the jack points are rusted out like Vancouver BC.