CO2 - Dry Ice Blasting Convertible roof

traco

Lads - anyone have any experience of this.

Thinking about getting the convertible roof cleaned using it but nervous about it. In theory it should get into every nook and cranny and remove bits of mould , moss etc leaving it perfect so that it could be treated instantly with a sealer / hydrophobic spray. The roof should be 100% dry instantly.

The mad thing is I would have installed this technology over 15 years ago into a wafer plant where we used it to de-burr silicon wafers for computer chips. Amazing that its appearing here now in car applications.

Links for vids for ref.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgJ7nLyu_rQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8wGh6FNA04

Curran

Have seen a few videos of this process, and it does look amazing, but my question is, and have really researched it, is ...where does the dirt go?
When using traditional methods of a spray cleaner, brushes and microfibers, etc, you physically see the dirt being washed away or absorbed into the Microfiber.
With the Dry Ice the dirt seems to evaporate...but where does it go...it never accumulates somewhere.

traco

That's what I was concerned about, roof may look clean but are all the microscopic dust particles still around somewhere or blown down into the fibers. Applications that I would have seen were on small items so particles dislodged would have been blown into a surrounding vacuum or blow down system and caught in filters.

These would have been solid dense materials so the particles would bounce off in the same way a pressure washer would bounce dirt off. I'm not sure about a porous material (my roof) where you could actually jet material down into it. On hard materials the stuff would be dust and blown away. In simple terms its the ice and the temp diff that causes a thermal shock and explosion for want of a better word that causes the contaminants to micro fracture and be blown away, which is why it works so well on solid surfaces where the material can only move up and away, on fabric its porous so not guaranteed to bounce up and away.

From reading about roof maintenance this can be an issue as it could become abrasive within the roof fibers and shorten the roof life. I've searched youtube and cannot find a video showing a convertible roof being cleaned, there are some interior shots alright but the majority is hard materials which is what has me wondering.

MetzgerMeister

You could do it yourself with the proper shampoo and tools. Leave it to dry or help it dry with a heat gun if you can and then apply the likes of Gtechniq I1 to stop anything adhering to it again.

traco

I went and had a look at this system on Satirday. I have to say it is impressive. The ice particles are much bigger than I had thought but then again I was coming from the semi conductor side.

It definitely works and for complex wheels, engine or intricate hard parts I wold consider it. Still not sure about the roof though, vinyl could be grand but fabrics might need a very cautious approach.

I let them try it on a sample are behind some trim so not visible when roof is up or down. It definitely cleaned it but I reckon it would also remove some of the dye. So jury is still out but I think I'll try traditional cleaning first.

Ded_Zebra

I cleaned mine with a scrub brush fabric cleaner and a pressure washer. Came up perfect! They're a lot tougher than people think.