Engineers Forum » Car Wash by Hail

[Grant]

A few years back I drove my car through a mild hail storm and was amazed at how clean the little pellets of hail made my car. It was like a mild grit blasting operation where the small ice pellets crushed themselves on impact and scrubbed the leading surfaces of the car clean.

Anyway it got me thinking that maybe there could be a car wash that used small pellets of ice at high velocities to clean cars. It could act as a brushless car wash that actually works to remove the thin layer of film most brushless carwashes leave behind. You could experiment with various ice pellet shapes, sizes, and speeds to find a way to get the car clean without any paint damage.

[RTH]

There used to be a cleaning system using dry ice pellets to knock off residual epoxy from composite layup tools. Usually worked but the cost got high for energy to make the pellets. It also acted as a bead blaster, which is fine for a heavy metal tool but not so good on car finishes. Perhaps a water-based ice would be softer and less damaging?
RTH