Dry Ice Cleaning

[Mark E.]

Has anyone tried this?

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

"For vintage car owners that want to preserve undercarriages and engine bays without removing the paint..."

[Mark F.]

Re: Dry Ice Cleaning

Has anyone tried this? https://www.hagerty.com/media/mainte...d-undercoating "For vintage car owners that want to preserve undercarriages and engine bays without removing the paint..."

Hi Mark,

Thanks for asking this question. I have subscribed to your thread, as I am also very interested in what folks have done in this regard...

A little web searching yielded the following link pertinent to a Corvette application - there are numerous other sites, too

https://www.coldjet.com/resources/restoration-of-1970-corvette/

I'd also be curious if this process could remove undercoating applied to a Corvette frame (along with rust, too), without removing the frame stencils and colored grease pencil shim marks...

frame number and 2 white shim marks - wide shot.jpg

[Mark E.]

Re: Dry Ice Cleaning

I just noticed a "similar thread" below started by Bob Brewer last year. Only one reply from someone who tried it:

Sal Carbone (8049)
Very Frequent User


Join Date November 30th, 1984Posts 380


Re: DRY ICE cleaning anybody tried it ??

Yes, I did Dry Ice blasting for a couple of years. Simply stated, its similar to sandblasting only using dry ice pellets as the media in special equipment. It can be very effective in certain instances used with caution. I can see it being extremely useful in underside cleaning of a typical used car. I think it would be too aggressive in a "survivor" type of application. It could easily remove crayon and paint markings, and probably chassis coating and blackout if you're not careful.

[Mark F.]

Re: Dry Ice Cleaning

thanks, Mark - SHUCKS, was hoping for the "Perfect Solution"!

[Ronald L.]

Re: Dry Ice Cleaning

I am keenly interested to know if this will clean the undercoating like Ziebert materials from underbody, fender skirts, etc. as well as full clean up rust on the reinforcments brackets...

Having said that, one trial I did about 6 years ago to remove an enamel layer and get to an original lacquer layer ...... failed.

The primer layer is softer and failed - that meant the color layer went with.

Enamel took twice as long to pull off than Lacquer.


I did like the look, the fiberglass looked original and non impact abraded.