Is Dry ice detailing worth it?

[E31luvr]

Hello All:

Just like the title says is it worth it to get a dry ice detail?

[LappingLuke]

If you drive the car regularly? Doubt it. I've seen eye watering prices for that service. My car is kinda gross underneath despite me cleaning it multiple times due to new fluid leaks popping up this year and getting fixed only to spring up elsewhere. I drive the car daily when it is road worthy so it will never truly be clean no matter what anyone does. My opinion is that dry ice blasting is for photos for your Bring a Trailer listing to fool people your 30yr old car isn't about to break or to circle jerk with your bar friends.

[E31luvr]

If you drive the car regularly? Doubt it. I've seen eye watering prices for that service. My car is kinda gross underneath despite me cleaning it multiple times due to new fluid leaks popping up this year and getting fixed only to spring up elsewhere. I drive the car daily when it is road worthy so it will never truly be clean no matter what anyone does. My opinion is that dry ice blasting is for photos for your Bring a Trailer listing to fool people your 30yr old car isn't about to break or to circle jerk with your bar friends.

Thanks for the input

[lloyddavis7]

For me it's booked for March once the servicing is don't in Jan and body work touch up in Feb as I want to the car to look its best from all angles. My car has the comfort of a heated garage. I have been quoted £895 for the full underneath and resealing plus engine bay. I believe that to be a good price.

[cartoonz]

1994_bmw_850csi_1-27-12121-scaled (1).jpg

If you drive the car regularly? Doubt it. I've seen eye watering prices for that service. My car is kinda gross underneath despite me cleaning it multiple times due to new fluid leaks popping up this year and getting fixed only to spring up elsewhere. I drive the car daily when it is road worthy so it will never truly be clean no matter what anyone does. My opinion is that dry ice blasting is for photos for your Bring a Trailer listing to fool people your 30yr old car isn't about to break or to circle jerk with your bar friends.

Talking out of your own tailpipe agan huh?

[LappingLuke]

Looks great!

[lloyddavis7]

Just the look I am hoping it will achieve

[E31luvr]

What would a decent price be for a service?

[bluptgm3]

Locally, it was in excess of $1000. $250 per hour.

Does not clean the deep stains, however oil/grease and road grime gone.

[RobertFontaine]

old thread bump...

1000 for a good undercarriage cleaning is much less than 250$ / hr.
A really good cleaning is likely to take 2-3 days.

Have a couple of calls out to local ice cleaners to see what their prices are like.
Spent the evening cleaning car parts parts with scrubbies, steel wool, detergent and brake cleaner Even with plenty of elbow grease I can't reproduce these kinds of results.

[RobertFontaine]

Only two guys in a town of 1 million doing dry ice blasting and neither are set up for automotive.
I'm not sure if this is an opportunity or a sign of absolutely no demand.

The one call back I got was 2300 for 8 hours of cleaning and I have to supply the lift.

Without adequate demand, the price of a minimum order of ice means a lot of waste if you don't have a few customers lined up the week of an order.

I am very tempted to save up and buy a unit and a compressor.
It has the potential to pay itself off very quickly and it is a really clean and low physical effort process.

[cartoonz]

bla bla bla...
It has the potential to pay itself off very quickly and it is a really clean and low physical effort process.

Sorry, that's the most ignorant thing I've read all day.
But more than a few people have made all the same wrong assumptions... they end up begging to get 50 cents on the dollar after they find out how wrong they are

[RobertFontaine]

I'm not sure why you think that's ignorant.
I've been doing a little research

Minimum order of 500 pounds of dry ice pellets locally.
I can get a decent machine adequate for the job for about 2500USD
I can get a couple of large cylinders and a decent gas compressor for 2500USD.

That gets you started with a portable offering for about 7k CAD.
10 or 12 jobs and the purchase is paid off.
(Not including the cost of your truck or van)

10 or 12 more jobs and you have the ability to start thinking about a small laser cleaner.
Connect enough jobs together and you can rent a shop and install a lift.

Add services and move forward with cleaning, detailing, restoration, and here tons and tons of rust work. (I hate rust work).

[cartoonz]

I'm not sure why you think that's ignorant.
I've been doing a little research

Minimum order of 500 pounds of dry ice pellets locally.
I can get a decent machine adequate for the job for about 2500USD
I can get a couple of large cylinders and a decent gas compressor for 2500USD.

That gets you started with a portable offering for about 7k CAD.
10 or 12 jobs and the purchase is paid off.
(Not including the cost of your truck or van)

10 or 12 more jobs and you have the ability to start thinking about a small laser cleaner.
Connect enough jobs together and you can rent a shop and install a lift.

Add services and move forward with cleaning, detailing, restoration, and here tons and tons of rust work. (I hate rust work).

Me thinks you need to do better "research"...
Your estimate is maybe 10% of the minimum needed to even start to properly shoot cars.
But your comments about it being a "clean process" is ridiculous - the stuff that comes off goes everywhere. And the " low physical effort" part is really laughable.

Look, I do this for real. Been doing it for years. I can tell you with certainty that it it absolutely not as simple as you seem to think ‐ and your pricing? You are missing extra digits on all of them.

But go ahead, argue away with your poor "research".
I KNOW what this takes to do it right.

[cartoonz]

...and the guy that quoted you $2300 for 8 hrs? Find an outside lift somewhere and pay him, that's the smartest move and a fair price.

[the green amigo]

I've been slowly accruing all the necessary equipment to add blasting to my shop and the thought that this can be done quickly and cheaply is laughable. Finding a compressor that pumps out 100-200cfm and the necessary dryer system and tanks is already in 25k+ range, add the actual ice blasting machine, nozzles, equipment, physical space and lift, airline routing, 3 phase electrical hookup etc.. and there is nothing cheap or quick about it. Your small 2500 machine is good for engine bay or interior detailing only, and at that point just do it the old fashion way and save your money.

[RobertFontaine]

I've noticed a tendency to be offended by everything posted on this forum lately.
It may take 10x to set up a shop but it does not take 10x to set up a portable unit on a truck.

Like cars you can spend as much as you like on your shop.
You can buy snap-on tool chests and lifts and 3 phase electrical hookups
BUT in the small that is all fluff.

If you want to pay the highest retail price for what is essentially a hopper, a valve and a line dryer then you aren't thinking very hard.
If you can't buy build a compressor unit dedicated to the dry ice blaster for less than 25k again you aren't thinking very hard.

Is your 3 bay, 3 phase shop with 3 top end lifts and air to support multiple big machines expense? Yes.
That's not anything near what I'm talking about.

A portable detailer with a truck can rig up a decent setup for far less than a luxury shop.
I have gone to see 2 truck-based portable setups in the last 3 weeks that are adequate for small industrial and vehicle work.

[cartoonz]

So much delusional bull manure.

...and a $2500 machine would not suffice to even do an engine bay. Clean jewelry ...maybe.

But hey, go for it. You seem to think you're so much smarter than the rest us us, even those of us that actually do this work.

[the green amigo]

No one's offended, you just clearly are misinformed and are spreading that word like the gospel.... In my case I'm piecing together used equipment to be as economical as possible, and am giving my real world experience. What most people fail to understand is the sheer volume of air that is needed for the machines to work properly, and the air must be dry and free of oil and contamination. Speaking of a portable rig, diesel compressors that pump enough volume are anything but cheap, and they also leave residue in the air which is detrimental to the cleaning process. I suggest you price one out and determine if it is cheap and DIY friendly. Just my 2 cents.

[RobertFontaine]

I've got a quote in hand for an adequately size ice blaster for 2600USD. From an American manufacturer. The two guys I have chatted with portable rigs have Honda generators and have put together their own tanks and motors to keeps prices down. I haven't looked at what it takes to run a air line dryer yet.

[cartoonz]

I've got a quote in hand for an adequately size ice blaster for 2600USD. From an American manufacturer. The two guys I have chatted with portable rigs have Honda generators and have put together their own tanks and motors to keeps prices down. I haven't looked at what it takes to run a air line dryer yet.

"Adequately sized".... suuuure it is. Lol... now you're just talking nonsense. Show us this magical beast.

FYI - I have a V10 powered box truck that runs on clean burning CNG. I put a PTO driven VanAir 185 CFM under deck compressor (to replace the previous 70HP diesel tow behind unit.). This whole setup is Environmentally Friendly, which compliments the Dry Ice process.
This goes through an aftercooler that wholesales by itself for more than your fantasy toy machine quote, then through a separator, then into a 180 gallon wet tank, through another separator and filters, then into a 212 CFM Nano dryer for -73 degrees dew point, then on to a 200 gallon storage tank - all done with 2" lines & components. I get all the bone dry air I need to use this system commercially. Yeah, there is a reason for all of this, but it seems obviously pointless to explain it to you.

No, you do not need all that to run toys, but you are absolutely going to need a compressor that puts out a whole lot more CFM's than you think. (which is why all the other mobile PROFESSIONAL blasters tow around Diesel trailer compressors.)
Sure, I have a ColdJet PCS 60 with several different nozzles and guns... and no, you may not need that quality of equipment. But even the cheapest Chineseum crap machine that even pretends to be adequate to do a car will run you $10k.
You will not build an air system with enough flow/pressure to properly shoot a car for $2500... Ever. Add an extra zero.
So yeah, I have over $150k into this system - because I do this for a living, you fool. I just *might* actually know more about this than you do, even with your University of Google degree.

Do YOU need all that? NO.
But to even setup an AMATEUR ADEQUATE toy mobile system, as you fantasize doing, you are going to spend far more than you think.

but hey, WTF could I know? I've only been doing this for years professionally...

No one's offended, you just clearly are misinformed and are spreading that word like the gospel.....

Exactly. I'm just shaking my head laughing at him, but also trying to put the truth about this here so someone else does not come later and actually believe him... But you know the saying about a Fool and his Money.

[RobertFontaine]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fZ6OHuR8Jg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8BSlWIjAwI

[cartoonz]

71P626QN0oL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
You can buy a Lambo on Amazon too...
As I mentioned, that is a toy machine. It absolutely will not be sufficient to do an entire car with any efficiency and the compressor requirements are far, far beyond what you think - even your "reviewers" admit that.
Would it "sort of work" for a hobby setup? To a point, but extremely limited.
Could you take it on the road and actually make a real business out of it? Maybe if you had a disclaimer on your truck saying "For Amusement Purposes Only", as there is no way this setup handles commercial grade anything.

[RobertFontaine]

I have provided an example of a reasonable cost setup that was enough to get a business started in year 1 removing barriers to entry and creating 10x profit on the tools. Does spending more on an air dryer or screw-type compressor improve the tool efficiency? Obviously yes, but you seem more interested in creating roadblocks than offering constructive suggestions.

[the green amigo]

At this point I think we can all agree that the equipment is more expensive and the process is much more involved then most people would assume.