Has anyone attempted to paint their intercooler? I have a Silver VIII and I want to make the intercooler black. I was thinking some spray paint but I don't know how it would effect cooling. Thoughts? Thanks.

 

As long as you use a thin layer of paint it shouldnt affect the effeciency of the intercooler.

 

I agree, however, black probably isn't your best option... considering that black is the best color to use to attract the most heat from the sun etc... but it's your call.. it should be fine while cruising, but in stop n go traffic you will probably see a slight loss due to the air not cooling at all really

 

geez I just saw a special paint just for that application, but I can't remember where it was. jup, getting old. try a search of the internet, it was a special paint that did not effect cooling, they even mentioned painting an intercooler black

 

there is a article in the new SCC mag, about making a sleeper car and they talk about painting the intercooler. Try going to like jewel and just rreading that article

 

that's where I was

 

Basically i'd think as long as it was a thin coat only on the front you'd be cool since it is the air passing thru that does the cooling the inside fins and back wouldn't be affected. If you painted to thick and penetrated deeply into the fins i'd say there would probably be a loss in efficiency. If your really concerned use a high temp paint. They work on high heat products due to their ability to disapate heat fast as well as not breaking down during high heat conditions.

 

gotta love boe, he got all the answers!!

 

Not really... i'm just always doing something with cars. Especially turbo's. It's a real addiction according to my woman. She's learned not to argue about it as i'll never stop, i like it to much!

 

There is a company that will coat intercoolers (black) with a special coating that actually increases thermal radiation instead of acting as an insulator. I believe the company is Swain or something like that...

 

I remember watching a vid for painting the headlights, and at the same time the guy also painted the Mitsu logo onto the intercooler. Looked kinda corny, but having the sleeper black intercooler would be sick IMO.

 

Dave from Buschur said a thin black coating would be fine. Also check out www.swaintech.com, I spoke to them about 3 weeks about, said it would take about 2 weeks and $250 to have the IC coated with thier black "heat emitter" coating. They do a lot of racing applications for oil coolers and other heat transfer devices.

 

you know if anything i would take the IC off and polish it to high hell. why would you want to hide something that is so cool. the intercooler and the wing make the car IMO. also get the red samco silicon pipes on the IC to accent the brakes.

 

I'm going to be painting my tanks and using a sharpie to stain the leading edge of the cross tubes. The fins don't show much so I'm leaving them alone. I doubt if this will change the heat dissipation at all.
BMan