YouTube Painting intercooler black makes it perform worse
- Thread starter Thirdgen89GTA
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you are still adding something, although certain types it is super thin. what would help you actually improve it is not adding stuff to the surface but increasing surface area.
there are things you could do (for extreme use cases) where you could take a radiator and improve on it without doing things like increasing the number of fins but by increasing the surface area on the existing fins.
What's old is new again!
We were talking about this on Vintage Mustang Forums a decade ago. Laquer vs Enamel vs no paint......only it was on radiators.
My solution was simple - Get a couple hair dryers, a fan, some cardboard and duct tape.
Make a makeshift plenum to direct the hair dryers into the intercooler passages.
Make a makeshift duct from outside of intercooler to the fan.
Turn on the fan, turn on the hair dryers - wait five minutes and measure the exit temp from the intercooler.
Paint intercooler with anything one wants to and repeat test.
Is the exit temp higher or lower? That about answers this question for under $5.00.
Your mileage may vary.
We were talking about this on Vintage Mustang Forums a decade ago. Laquer vs Enamel vs no paint......only it was on radiators.
My solution was simple - Get a couple hair dryers, a fan, some cardboard and duct tape.
Make a makeshift plenum to direct the hair dryers into the intercooler passages.
Make a makeshift duct from outside of intercooler to the fan.
Turn on the fan, turn on the hair dryers - wait five minutes and measure the exit temp from the intercooler.
Paint intercooler with anything one wants to and repeat test.
Is the exit temp higher or lower? That about answers this question for under $5.00.
Your mileage may vary.
I can't find a link but I recall something about a flat paint being not so flat as surface goes, hence causing micro turbulence and acting to extract more heat than just smooth metal. It was a thickness of laminar flow issue.
I'll keep looking for the link.
that sounds like more surface area but at the cost of a barrier though right?
i think there might be an anodization technique that might do that well, although i thought i had heard about something along the lines of shooting micro particles at some to create small deformities. ie. you could simply physically deform all the fins and end up with much more surface area.
i think there might be an anodization technique that might do that well, although i thought i had heard about something along the lines of shooting micro particles at some to create small deformities. ie. you could simply physically deform all the fins and end up with much more surface area.
This. ^^^
Once again, back to the laminar flow issue. Once upon a time there was a test with bowling balls and water.
Drop 2 balls, one bare, one covered in 50 grit sand paper. The 50 grit ball always hit bottom first.
It 'ripped' the laminar flow barrier of the fluid and therefore had less overall resistance to movement.
Same holds true for rough paint vs smooth on a heat exchanger - if the laminar flow is very smooth, it pulls AWAY from the surface to be cooled and actually causes an insulation effect due to dead air at the exchanger surface.
When the surface is rough, the air turbulates and interacts much more closely with the surface to be cooled and results in a better heat exchange.
Mines actually painted black. It gives me sick horse gains!
But really I did it for the look of the car. My intake temp is alright. Never had an issue with it too hot. But its never given me a boner because it was cooler than normal. But I can tell its still working well by just feeling it after a drive. I used just engine paint enamel on it.
But really I did it for the look of the car. My intake temp is alright. Never had an issue with it too hot. But its never given me a boner because it was cooler than normal. But I can tell its still working well by just feeling it after a drive. I used just engine paint enamel on it.
I wonder what's more effiecient, black ano or oxidized raw alloy.
This might go down in the history books as one of your more accurate and informative posts!
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