Flat blacked the intercooler...
Dont paint your intercooler. You will be messing up the heat dissipation properties of the cooling fins. In other words, your intercooler will not be as efficient. I know this from experience. I also painted my I/C because I had some bent fins and they looked bad. On a hot day, I lose enough HP that I can feel it. No I don't have dyno numbers to back this up, because it is very difficult to test this sitting still on a dyno.
Last edited by RogueSTi; Nov 29, 2005 at 04:29 PM.
I want my car to remain a sleeper/stealth. Can I paint or anodize my intercooler so it is not easily visible?
Yes! It is not uncommon at all for an intercooler and endtanks to be anodized black to keep attention away from the car and help it maintain a sleeper appearance. A very light coat of paint on the core and endtanks is also another option, usually much cheaper and easier than anodizing, with a negligible performance loss.
This is from turbobygarrett.com in the FAQ section
Yes! It is not uncommon at all for an intercooler and endtanks to be anodized black to keep attention away from the car and help it maintain a sleeper appearance. A very light coat of paint on the core and endtanks is also another option, usually much cheaper and easier than anodizing, with a negligible performance loss.
This is from turbobygarrett.com in the FAQ section
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Originally Posted by Evillusion
Dont paint your intercooler. You will be messing up the heat dissipation properties of the cooling fins. In other words, your intercooler will not be as efficient. I know this from experience. I also painted my I/C because I had some bent fins and they looked bad. On a hot day, I lose enough HP that I can feel it. No I don't have dyno numbers to back this up, because it is very difficult to test this sitting still on a dyno.


Originally Posted by robertrinaustin
I'm going to disagree. I guess if you have the IC in direct sunlight it could get hotter because it is black and doesn't reflect like the silver. However, this is contrary to the experience of some of the biggest IC makers. A large IC maker that offers both black and silver ICs reported no difference on the road or dyno that they could measure. I might add that I have a black IC as well and have not noticed any difference.
Man, I dig it, totally incognito! I was also considering doing the same to lose some unwanted attention. My only concern was ill effects on the cooling capabilities of the IC. I have done a small amount of research on it via the internet. Some say no problems with it, others say it causes problems. I dont see how a lightcoat of spraypaint could cause a huge loss in power. I could see if you layed it on thick and clogged the fins/coils so airflow was obstructed, but other than that?
I also thought that making it black would upset the heat transfer from your I/C. But then again, your oil cooler is black.
Perhaps it depends on the paint you use. It seems pretty obviousl that if you just cover it in layers of really thick paint that things are going to go a bit t1ts up.
Is it something to do with radiant heat dissipation as opposed to convection or conduction? I'm not so big on Thermodynamics myself. Anyone?
Perhaps it depends on the paint you use. It seems pretty obviousl that if you just cover it in layers of really thick paint that things are going to go a bit t1ts up.
Is it something to do with radiant heat dissipation as opposed to convection or conduction? I'm not so big on Thermodynamics myself. Anyone?
Originally Posted by JB1
Stealth?? you bought a friggin Evo!




Well, if that's your choice then paint the Brembos too, and get some steel wheels with hub caps to go with it, Enkeis don't look stealthy at all.