Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 54

Thread: Painting intercoolers

  1. #1
    Junior Member Backyard Mechanic haison's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Vic
    Posts
    447

    Default Painting intercoolers

    Just wondering, is it okay to spray intercoolers? Will it affect it's efficiency? And also what types of paint will suit better?
    Cheers in advance

  2. #2
    i wrote the Automotive Encyclopaedia roadsailing's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Victoria
    Posts
    1,182

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    for stealth?

    this topic has been argued for years (not here so i much i think)

    long story short, give it a light coat of radiator black or flat black spraypaint and it should be sweet.
    like to drift? live in victoria?
    www.vicdrift.com

    now targeting: targets

    formerly shinybluesteel

  3. #3
    Junior Member Grease Monkey
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    83

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    Paint is a plastic and is an insulator to both heat and electricity. Pretty much, the heat wont be able to dissipate from the fins properly and it will greatly reduce the efficiency. Look at getting it anodised instead.

    Why do you want to paint it?

  4. #4
    i wrote the Automotive Encyclopaedia roadsailing's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Victoria
    Posts
    1,182

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    paint is not a plastic

    they paint radiators

    good point on the anodising thing, anodise it black (bear in mind that the layer of oxide is also an insulator)
    like to drift? live in victoria?
    www.vicdrift.com

    now targeting: targets

    formerly shinybluesteel

  5. #5
    Junior Member Domestic Engineer ill-minded's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    QLD
    Posts
    612

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    that being said, but generally aluminium forms its own oxide layer when left uncoated anyway so anodising wouldn't really be much different anyway
    or at least thats what chemistry taught me

  6. #6
    back into it Chief Engine Builder
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    nsw
    Posts
    3,991

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    Quote Originally Posted by shinybluesteel
    for stealth?

    this topic has been argued for years (not here so i much i think)

    long story short, give it a light coat of radiator black or flat black spraypaint and it should be sweet.
    correct! ten char

  7. #7
    the Afterbirth Tycoon Automotive Encyclopaedia PlacentaJuan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    SA
    Posts
    1,139

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    i can't see how paint will affect its heat transfer capabilities, unless it has full sunlight on it the black might absorb a (small) amount of heat from the light.

    anodising will probably have exactly the same effect but cost about one thousand times more.

  8. #8
    doctor ed Conversion King ed's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Penrith BC
    Posts
    2,537

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    paint? that will just insulate it!!

    if you want black (which IS far more thermodynamically effective for a cooler) then you should buy a black annodised one

    painting is a silly idea
    ../delete/ban
    tech moderator
    E46 M3 Nürburgring Nordschleife - 8.38

  9. #9
    Junior Member Grease Monkey
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    83

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    Although anodising does create an oxide layer on the outside of the fins, the layer is probably both much thinner and harder than paint. Paint will be cheaper than anodising.

    And if paint isnt a plastic, what is it then?

  10. #10
    doctor ed Conversion King ed's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Penrith BC
    Posts
    2,537

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    Quote Originally Posted by PlacentaJuan
    i can't see how paint will affect its heat transfer capabilities, unless it has full sunlight on it the black might absorb a (small) amount of heat from the light.

    anodising will probably have exactly the same effect but cost about one thousand times more.
    that whole statement is wrong...

    paint is an insulator
    black will cool more efficiently
    annodising will be far more effective
    ../delete/ban
    tech moderator
    E46 M3 Nürburgring Nordschleife - 8.38

  11. #11
    Junior Member Grease Monkey
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    83

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    Quote Originally Posted by PlacentaJuan
    i can't see how paint will affect its heat transfer capabilities, unless it has full sunlight on it the black might absorb a (small) amount of heat from the light.

    anodising will probably have exactly the same effect but cost about one thousand times more.
    The heat from the water in the cooler is transferred into the metal pipe walls and then into the fins on the cooler. The purpose of the fins is to provide a large surface area to volume o fmetal, which increases the rate of heat transfer. Normally, the heat is transferred from the fins to air by convection. However, if the fins are covered in a layer of paint, which is an insulator, the heat does not come into contact with air and does not transfer through the paint bwell, so it is trapped in the metal and it will just continue to build up.

  12. #12
    Forum Member 1st year Apprentice
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Qld
    Posts
    22

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    I'm with shinybluesteel on this one. Paint it. The cost of annodising would far outweigh the benefits and if paint was such an insulator and bad why have radiators been black painted for so long. Alloy have only been in a relatively short time and manufacturers are not totaly silly.

    The amount of insulating that paint provides is so marginal it would hardly count. Last time I was in a black car there wasn't much discernable insulation from the paint. In fact it asorbs the heat. Remember white car much cooler than black car.

    If you are worried about normal paint being "plasticy" try high temp exhaust paint, it tends to be very dry powdery in it's application but again I doubt there's much in it.

    I

  13. #13
    Junior Member Domestic Engineer BigWorm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    SA
    Posts
    650

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    Hang on a minute, first you need to realise which part of the intercooler does the heat transfer, and that would be the fins. Now unless you soak the thing in paint you would only end up getting paint on maybe 5% of the fin area, and that's if you bothered to paint both the front & the back.

    The question is why you want it black, the answer is usually just for stealth, & the best solution is, as has been said, a light coat of flat black over the parts that are visible.
    Annodising would cost you somewhere over $100, which going by the price of intercoolers these days would be almost doubling the purchase price.

  14. #14
    Junior Member Grease Monkey
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    83

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    Quote Originally Posted by fester

    The amount of insulating that paint provides is so marginal it would hardly count. Last time I was in a black car there wasn't much discernable insulation from the paint. In fact it asorbs the heat. Remember white car much cooler than black car.

    If you are worried about normal paint being "plasticy" try high temp exhaust paint, it tends to be very dry powdery in it's application but again I doubt there's much in it.

    I
    You are actually referring to a different thing here. When you refer to a black car getting hotter than a white car, it is due to black absorbing more light than white. The light (or radiation) creates heat when it is stored in the material's molecules.

    Its good advice about the type of paint to use though.

  15. #15
    i wrote the Automotive Encyclopaedia roadsailing's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Victoria
    Posts
    1,182

    Default Re: Painting intercoolers

    i was hoping i could head this one off at the pass for a change, but as it has turned into a thread,

    there are a few things to consider:

    heat can move in three ways, conduction, convection and radiation.

    in an intercooler, heat moves out of the air into the cooler via convection, goes through the metal by conduction, then gets into the air via convection and radiation.

    adding paint or anodising reduces (slightly perhaps) the heat flow through the cooler via conduction, but possibly increases the heat flow out of the cooler via radiation, and possibly convection too in the case of anodising (which increases the micro surface area of the sunstrate metal)

    one of the best radiators of heat is black anodised alluminium.

    having said that, most of the heat probably "gets out" via convection and not so much radiation.

    again, if you have a big blingy cooler that you dont want to be visible, just give it a quick hit of export flat black (ie very fine coat, if it still looks blingy then give it another very fine coat) and only of the visible side, and it will be sweet. after you have done this, just dont think about it anymore.
    like to drift? live in victoria?
    www.vicdrift.com

    now targeting: targets

    formerly shinybluesteel

Similar Threads

  1. ST165 VS ST185 W2A intercoolers
    By sw20r in forum Tech and Conversions
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 16-02-2006, 10:34 PM
  2. Painting bonnet. RICE ALERT!
    By NeoNasty in forum Tech and Conversions
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 21-12-2005, 01:10 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •