I posted this in the midst of the quite popular Intercooler Pics thread, however I feel it warrants a serperate post perhaps just for future searches.

Painting the intercooler black seems to be quite effective in hiding the fact your running a turbo'd system, however at what cost. Does this effect overall efficiency of the intercooler by a noticable amount? Seems the paint would inhibit airflow, yet then again they make black radiators, but i suspect they are black when assembled, not painted after the fact. Anyway Ive been up too long i suppose, hope this comes out clear.

Pic for reference:

 

OOoooo, a reason to post more of my pics... again! My new MSN pic posting ability is slowly turning me into a post *****

Anyway, here is my contribution:




My view on my black intercooler is this. It's tucked too far in my bumper for the black to absorb any radiant light energy, so the color itself has a null effect. Plus, the amount of paint I used (very little) should have a very minimal if any insulating effect.

 

Good post. The issue I'm concerned isnt so much the implications of the color absorbing heat, as it is the paint inhibiting air flow in(through) the intercooloer.

 

Well, several people have recommended masking off the finned area, so that only the tubes/bars receive a light coat. That way the fins (heat sink) will be unaffected. Of course, I read this after I painted mine But, like I said, I used a very, very light coat.

 

as long as you dont clog the fins its fine....its just paint on the front....not where the heat exhange actually happens.

and mine:

 

You can always get it painted at those radiator shops that make and rebuild radiatirs the black they spray won't mess anything up.
Lee

 

what paint did you guys use???

 

You can buy cans of raditor spray paint from Eastman Tools. I spent the extra money and had it coated by Swain Tech -- mostly because I did not want a shiny intercooler to draw attention to but if it does help with the effeciency of the IC great. Now I just have to get the kit completed and installed.

 

This question gets asked alot and I always throw in my 0.2...
I heard that you don't want to use a regualr paint such as Krylon. You want to get a Spray Laquer(sp?) paint. That is because laquer apparently will allow heat transfer etc. better then a regular spray paint.
HTH, someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
M

 

i just masked off the fins and painted everything else with some generic flat black paint from home depot

 

I'm new to this, but isnt that overkill?

 

I assume that pic is still with the tape masking off the fins

 

i second that assumption

 

that pic is with the masking tape still on the fins.

 

The coolant vein runs down the middle of the fin, so when you pain it you want to hold the can at a 45' angle to the horizontal plane of the IC.

This will coat the outer edges of the fins but not the inner core where the heat transfer takes place. It will also mean you dont clog the core with paint.

If you do it this way you will find there is not increase in charge temp.