To paint or not to paint?

[BAC5.2]

So I've got this BIG ASS front mount waiting to go in the car.

When it's all cleaned up, it's nice and polished and shiny. Personally, there's a bit too much bling for my tastes, espically since the SS bumper won't wear it as nicely as a WRX will, nor will I stand any chance of hiding the core behind the bumper.

So, I was thinking of painting it flat black using Radiator paint.

I have mixed emotions about painting the core, for performance reasons.

The arguments against seem to be simply an insulating coating on the intercooler allowing it to retain heat, thus reducing efficiency.

The other side, is that black tends to radiate more heat than silver does. Further, the slightly rough surface will increase surface area over the polished finish and may increase efficiency that way.

At the shop, we took a SnapOn heat gun, and stuck it in the inlet on the intercooler. We cranked it up to full blast and let it run for a half hour or so. We went back and put our hands at the outlet. The air coming out was about ambient temperature.

The core is HUGE. Like 26" wide core, near 9" tall, and 3.75" thick, oh and it's bar/plate rather than tube/fin.

I am leaning towards painting it black, but I really want to hear other arguments for or against painting.

Lemme hear what you got!

[92whitelegacy]

Paint 'er Black! Then get an STi stencil and paint that in STi pink! jk do what ya want.

[douglas vincent]

No!

Paint the Entire Intercooler Pink!!

Then stencil STI in black!

[92whitelegacy]

No!

Paint the Entire Intercooler Pink!!

Then stencil STI in black!

Ahh Touche'

[evolutionmovement]

Anti-theft black. I think the paint question could be argued for however long anyone had patience, but I'd bet the real world difference would be unnoticeable.

[92whitelegacy]

Yea black will make it look like a BIG radiator

[BAC5.2]

Decided. Black.

I am only going to paint the FRONT of the core and the end tanks and overspray on the top and bottom. Just so it looks black from the front. I'll do my best to conceal it as well as humanly possible.

[92whitelegacy]

Good choice. Put an STi logo on it.

[magicmike]

Good choice. Put an STi logo on it.

screw that, put a big sti logo on your rear window instead.....

[kidatari]

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/e ... g99317.htm

Eastwood makes a specific paint for radiators

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?item ... pe=PRODUCT

[Richard]

Huh? Black isn't a color? Does that make African Americans no longer a part of the "Colored" group? The South is so screwed up. J/K

I say paint it black with radiator paint, but go easy on the coat. And watch out for black holes. They can really tear up your struts.

[BAC5.2]

The paint I picked up is some super-high-heat engine enamel.

On the can, it says it's good for use on intake manifolds, exhaust headers, radiators and cooling systems. Rated to be safe up to 1200 degrees. The 500 Degree can was not suggested for radiators.

I'd have to agree that the main method of heat transfer for an intercooler is convection, and that radiaton would only be a factor at a stand-still. Since the size of my core is so large, it's a more than adequate heatsink.

I think the paint I chose should sufice, and if it doesn't, i'll bust out the paint thinner and remove it all and re-polish it.

For what it's worth, we had an STi make more than 500whp with the same intercooler I'm using, painted black with BBQ paint.

I'll probably paint it in a few minutes