I'm looking for the sleeper look, so I have decided to paint my intercooler black.

So, do I need fancy radiator paint, or just any old sh*tty flat black paint?

See here: Eastwood Radiator Black Paint

"Standard engine paints are too thick for radiator use because they can interfere with heat transfer and block air flow between the cooling fins. Also, standard paint tends to flake off radiator tanks. Radiator Black helps solve this problem. Durable Enamel formulation resists temperatures up to 250ºF, gas and chipping. One can covers 6 square feet (most radiators require 2 cans). "

At $14.99 per can + shipping, this seems like an expensive proposition ($20+!!!). Marketing hype, or engineering marvel?

So miataturbo masses - what say you? Shut up and buy the expensive stuff, or still Shut up and slap some Walmart paint on it? Or just Shut up?


P.S. - How to prep intercooler before painting? Just wipe it with lacquer thinner, or will I need to hit it with some scuff pads too?

P.P.S. I was feeling remiss in not including a photo of anything, so here's something funny and vaguely related to the thread title:

 

quick, delete this thread before Brain goes postal on you

 

to answer your question though: no, its not worth it.
use a thin coat of whatever paint

you'd have to literally submerge the ic in paint for it to significantly affect its heat exchanging properties

 

Use krylon paint and dont look back.

 

You will need to have a nice scuffed surface for it to stick. I glass beaded my intercooler and charge pipes before spraying them with rattle can textured black spray paint.

 

I always use self etching primer on aluminum.

Didn't we have a thread on this last year?

 

Is this thread real life?

 

Guys if I paint my engine block black, will the paint hold too much heat in and cause my engine to overheat?

 

No dawg, black is the best emitter of radiant heat, it'll make the engine run cooler.

 

Guys we are talking "Expensive" Intercooler paint. Not that cheap ****.

 

No we're not. This is the expensive intercooler coating that'll actually do something. Only costs ~$225 per intercooler.

 

Since gold has better thermal conductive properties than aluminum, I'm going to paint my IC gold.

 

I think you would have much better luck if you just made the IC out of gold. That way no need to even buy paint.

 

How do you expect an IC to work without painting it?

 

 

flat black any old paint. gold is actually very bad at radiating heat, mister brain.

Shiny is worse than flat. light is worse than dark.

 

Well are we talking ACTUAL gold, or gold colored.

 

Fools. All of you are damned fools.

Any heat which escapes from the intercooler gets blown straight back into the engine compartment.

We all know that nothing is more important than keeping under-hood temps down. Thus, the intercooler should be insulated in order to prevent it from raising the ambient temp of everything around it.

 

I think this leads back to hood risers. THE RICERS WERE ON TO SOMETHING!

 

Yup.

For that matter, the radiator isn't helping matters any...