dry ice blasting

[dinhnguyen57]

Has anyone tried dry ice blasting to clean up their undercarriage, get rid of the undercoating?

[Vince Taliano #13852]

Although it wasn't dry blasting, the Caddie Chronicle featured a story on cleaning an undercarriage in the February 2023 issue.  View the issue, pages 16-17.

[TJ Hopland]

I have not seen it in person on a car but have seen it used indoors to remove years of paint from a 'tin' ceiling and it really did a nice job there.  The ceiling tin is much thinner than the metal on say most areas of a car and has texture/details stamped into it and it got the paint out of those areas. 

For undercoating I have seen videos on it and the results seem to vary depending on the type of undercoating.  Some of the videos it looks like what you would expect to see in an infomercial for the process, pretty much magic. Other less professionally shot and produced videos (that seem pretty unbiased and real world) it got some off in some areas but not in others and they commented that it took way more product than expected.

Transporting the ice and equipment also has to be considered.  The machines I have seen are not small or lightweight and then the cooler that holds the ice isn't small and for sure isn't light. Neither one is the sort of thing you are just going to just flop up into the back of your pickup or suv.  The rental places and ice places which may not be the same place may offer delivery but thats extra cost and my have limited range they will deliver. 

Also note the possibly limited hours of the ice place, you run out on Saturday you may not be able to get more till Monday but you may have to return the machine on Monday and wait weeks before its available again.  If you over buy the ice maybe have some alternate projects lined up to use it up.

It would be nice if there was a mini version of the machine that was practical to do a test before you commented to the full size process.           

[stokes47cad]

We have a high end restorer here in Denver that uses the dry ice cleaning. It is simply amazing. The undercoat preserves the finish thru the decades and the dry ice process brings a like new appearance after the undercoat removal. Highly recommend it.

[dinhnguyen57]

I will try.  I called a guy who does it and he charges $200/hr and he said it will likely total $1000-1600.  Apparantly he has an industrial air compressor and portable dry ice blaster that are portable. 

I'll take pictures of before and after and fill everyone in when it gets done.

[mario]

I had it done on my 1964 non cadillac vehicle. It was fantastic.  The crap they removed was amazing. Not cheap by any means, but very effective.
Ciao,
Mario Caimotto

[dinhnguyen57]

I found this informative article by Hagerty on dry ice blasting:

https://www.hagerty.com/media/maintenance-and-tech/dry-ice-cleaning-the-coolest-way-to-remove-rust-grime-and-undercoating/