the best product to use and the cheapest product to us is plain old LINSEED OIL!

I use an old metal spray gun and fill it with linseed oil.. then heat it to make it sprayable.. then go to town spraying everything down!

 

It may be a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. I've seen more issues from letting the salt build up and layer on top of layer cake upon themselves out here in the midwest. The guys who never wash their trucks/cars in the winter are always the ones who complain about rust problems out here.

I've always washed all my vehicles in the winter, and never had rust issues. Granted, I do use a high-pressure manual car wash down the road that has heated bays and heated water, so that probably helps.

 

if you're going to wash during the winter.. the best practice isto use high volume and low pressure... I used to work for a plow company and we spent a lot of time learning the proper washing techniques post storm...

pressure washers can often force salty water into areas where it will sit and form rust... again a thick layer of linseed oil will last a long time... we usually did a "deep" clean half way through the winter... we would bring the trucks inside one at a time and let them come to room temperature over night.. the next day we would wash and wax the body.. let dry over night and hit the underside of the dump beds and truck chassis with another thick layer of linseed oil.. a lot of work, but well worth it!