Are "worn In" And Old Intercoolers Better Than New Ones?

[Chrisrotary]

Inter coolers are painted black from factory for thermal efficiency ...

matte Black is able to dissipate heat far better than any unpainted alloy surface

Sounds funny I know but research it

I thought that only related to black absorbing all the colour in the light spectrum thats why its perceived by our brain as black because no light is reflected. to same effect if you leave a black object out in sun it will get warmer quicker because the black paint will absorb more of the light (electromagnetic waves) from the sun. where a white object will reflect the light and also heat.

I wasn't saying it would make a big difference tho your right.

I was only thinking in terms of bees dick, width not length.

[djr81]

Inter coolers are painted black from factory for thermal efficiency ...

matte Black is able to dissipate heat far better than any unpainted alloy surface

Sounds funny I know but research it

I thought that only related to black absorbing all the colour in the light spectrum thats why its perceived by our brain as black because no light is reflected. to same effect if you leave a black object out in sun it will get warmer quicker because the black paint will absorb more of the light (electromagnetic waves) from the sun. where a white object will reflect the light and also heat.

I wasn't saying it would make a big difference tho your right.

I was only thinking in terms of bees dick, width not length.

This has been done to death a million times. But anyway.

There are two key mechanisms for dissipating heat from an intercooler:

conductivity & emissivity.

Both are obvious in the way they function.

Painting an intercooler black improves the heat transfer due to emissivity but lessens it due to conductivity.

Conductivity is by far the more influential of the two mechanisms which means you degrade the performance of the intercooler if you paint it. On the upside it helps stop it corrode from salt etc.

So don't paint it if you want it to work at its best.