Painting Intercoolers

[GWP021]

simple really just go down to your local paint suplier and ask afew questions easy as yea

[MearCat]

The paint or not to paint in relation to performance gains/losses has been done to death and speaking from experience and having 2 temperature probes measuring ambient & intake temps, it made bugger all difference before or after painting mine. Too many people spend too much time arguing over the intricacies of a mod that may gain or lose you a couple of hp. Pffft - like you'll notice it!

As for longevity, small bits of paint do come off a little every now and then but all you have to do is get a spray can and touch it up - without getting it on your bumper

Attached are a couple of pics of mine when I did it a few months ago.

[thrtytwo]

cheers for the pic, looks great !

[masTers]

How much for the german paint dudette?

[Dirty32]

Excuse me for my ignorance - Would painting an intercooler create any restrictions on flow, or would it have any effect on the radiator??

Just to me, it would seem that by spraying a coat of something that bonds to the surface of something that takes airflow, would it not clog or block it up similar to dust or sand or gunk???

My car has a black intercooler anyway, so makes no difference to me (came with it when i got it, and i assumed r32 GTR's came with a black intercooler as stock???)

Would it not be a better practise to have the front mount anodised in a selected colour? What cost would be involved.

I had a neighbour with a WRX that had his fm intercooler anodised in gold to match his wheels and colour scheme or the STI

[MearCat]

Simply mounting an intercooler in front of the radiator would have MUCH more of a flow restriction on your radiator than any coating on it, but that's what the thermofan on your radiator is for - to kick in when the coolant is too hot (even if it's caused by lack of airflow to it).

As for clogging up the fins in the intercooler, you have to to driving through some VEEEEERY hefty bug swarms to do that. The paint is not thick enough to block the airflow through the intercooler.

And yes - all the GTRs have a black intercooler as stock.

[SR32]

yeah strangley enough after getting a radiator cleaned from a specialist, it was returned cleaned...and painted in black?

$7 and free nozzles for masters.

[Remix-]

I painted mine black a while back. I used VHT matt black with excellent results (VHT can be bought from Repco).