cars

Sometimes working on cars means getting to do fun things like playing with dry ice and isopropyl alcohol! 

Any guesses what I'm doing with this?

Ok time for the big reveal! 🥁

This was an experiment, I'd never tried it before but I always wanted to play with some dry ice so I gave it a go! 

NOBODY guessed what it was for! 😲

Removing old 'n busted sound deadening material to replace it with new, shiny sound deadening material (that actually works).

This factory stuff was pretty good for its time, 1993! The "good stuff" is still all pretty much the same: butyl rubber. There are varying qualities and price points and you pretty much pick your poison.

Problem is once it dries out and loses adhesion, it no longer absorbs vibrations.

I had the carpet out anyway so I figured why not fix it up a bit. Plus... I always wanted to try out this dry ice trick!

There are some classic YouTube videos of racers mixing dry ice with iso alcohol to flash freeze the material to separate it from the vehicle. Since not all of mine had finished separating yet, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Turns out it's pretty expensive and I wasn't sure how much to get. I ended up with ~5lbs to the tune of about $40.

Worth it for the cost of the experiment, but would I do it again I'd make some different decisions.

Turns out you really need at least twice as much as I used because what's crucial is that you cover the entire surface area as quickly as possible. You need that flash freeze moment, I think. 

I covered it with a blanket and spread it around until everything was good and froze, but I ended up chipping a good deal off anyway. 

Would it have been just as easy to chip it off without freezing? Some of it, yes. But some of it was still pretty well adhered and I think I'd have wanted to heat it up to get it off if not freezing it.

Unfortunately I made the hideous decision of getting Amazon ones because they know how to hit a price/performance target. Those bastards!

I originally had only planned on replacing the factory one on the driver side so I only ordered one pack, but once I got into it and realized I was doing all of it I had to order another pack.

Planning on doing the back and doors as well. Should help quiet it down a bunch!

It's not crucial to cover every inch, you just need to cover the majority of a panel. The soft rubber absorbs the vibration if it's properly adhered. A lot of ppl will cover every single inch, but it's largely just added weight, cost, and effort.

More important is to do your prep and then use these rollers to make sure you get maximum adhesion. The different sizes helps with getting into the nooks and crannies.

Stay tuned for another haphazard episode of Billy Bob get'n 'r dun, quick and cheap.

When I get the second pack I'll update with how much more I do, plus I got a little secret in store for improving the audio quality of the speakers as well!

There are some classic YouTube videos of racers mixing dry ice with iso alcohol to flash freeze the material to separate it from the vehicle. Since not all of mine had finished separating yet, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

https://embedr-mini-app.vercel.app/dca35e4