Painting intercooler black

[Skyrine-Dave]

Hi Guys,

Just wonderinf if painting my intercooler black will have any negative affect on performance? ie will black paint retain heat and cause the cooler to be inefficient?

Cheers

Dave

[Guest Variable]

If you do a google search for "Black Body Radiation" you'll find that a black object is the most perfect radiator of heat. Guess the stealth look is the most efficient as well.

Cheers

Dirk

[dangerous_daveo]

I've read on here before about the 'radiator' effect, basically it said radiators are black for a reason, and the black cooled better, as the black only sokes up light radiataion or something. Cant remember 100% tho. Obviously it would be a fine line, as your painting it could block it up a fair bit. But then from memory a LOT of stock coolers are black.

[Abo Bob]

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ing+intercooler

[race_snooze]

black will absorbe light (it wont reflect it unless covered in clear or polished) so there for will absorbe heat from light. As for attracting heat no idea. But like they said before just about all radators are black "why"

[Bass Junky]

Mine's black.

At the end of the day, an intercooler is a heat sink on a road car.

The faster it can radiate it heat to the outside air the better.

But really, we aren't talking about massvie amounts of difference.

BASS OUT

[mjfawke]

Most paints are thermal barriers. And intercoolers are heat exchangers (convection), not radiators. Therefore - it's a bad idea, unless you can find a paint which is not a thermal barrier.

[nedb]

Simple, take your cooler to the radiator reconditioning place and get them to paint it using the radiator black. It wont cost more than $50.

[lwells]

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ing+intercooler

In particular: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...21&postcount=52

LW.

[Oosh]

The colour of the paint will have a miniscule effect compared to the insulating properties of the paint itself, thick paint = bad, thin = good. If you want to go stealth just make sure you use a very thin paint and the difference in cooling efficiency will be negligable.

[Skyrine-Dave]

cheers guys, some good info there

if i do decide to stealth up the appearance i might just give it a light spray with black, not a solid covering.. but some interesting points to consider

thanks!

[R33S2]

if a paint creates bad thermal properties would anodizing it delete that property

[surfiemullet]

Painting it in a light coat of matt black would give best results. I painted the back of my front mount in matt black, just couldnt do the polished front lol The shine was too nice

[aridyne]

I think a thin coat of black would do the job.. I just dunno if it would look good on a white car? would a white coat be better there?

[siksII]

you have to put a few layers on or it will flake off very quickly

best way to do it so the paint stays is to use a primer let it set then spray over with black.

my cooler and piping has been sprayed black with many layers of paint, and by touching the pipes i cant tell any difference, the outlet before always stayed at ambient temperature and after painting it is always still at ambient temp.

[browny]

Convection is the dominant means of heat transfer for radiators and intercoolers. At a guess radiation would only account for maybe 5% of the total heat transfer.

My guess as to why a lot of EOM stuff is painted/coloured black is a mixture of aesthetics and corrosion protection.

[surfiemullet]

what about a white gtr? they look good with black coolers.

[Bass Junky]

Anodising will be very very difficult because of all the fins and stuff.

The solutions they have to put them in will get stuck in little nooks and crannies and make the finish very ordinary.

I used a spray pack of flat black anti corrosive paint boughts from Bunnings.

Looks great, works great, no problems at all.

[Angry]

my coolers black ..and the temp differences on the end tanks from turbo side to inlet side.. is greatly different.... even after long drives ..i did 1400kms in 5days doing a round trip from melbourne to moama, echuca, adeliade.. and the cooler temp .. by touch remained the same ..even on 39deg day temperatures..

ppl remarked black absorbs heat .....i dont think thats a real issue when your cooler is being buffled by ambient air .... ... and i dont think it could absorb that much heat when its not near any direct heat source...well with mine anyways. and its not like its in direct sunlight all the time either. :kick:

Matt

[nedb]

If in direct sunlight black absorbs heat but if out of sunlight black disperses heat better than other colours.