I don't think anyone has ever answered my question(not posed in here). I wholeheartedly agree that blacked-out > bling, however, I can't help but wonder if the paint reducing cooling in the slightest.

 

I saw a thread in the FI forum a while back debating this. A member dynoed his car the painted the front half flat black and redynoed and I belive the lsot was very very minimal (like 1-3whp) but he then had it acid dipped to strip it and had a High temp flat black coating (like jethot for manifolds) and he picked up like 5whp over his original dyno

 

Dyno is very different from normal driving on the street. But painting your intercooler in any color will lower the efficiency of cooling.

 

Thanks for the info.

As Dylan mentioned, dyno numbers don't mean much when compared to the real world(to me at least- I've been down that road before). Again, the difference may be negligible, but I can't help but think there is some difference.

In the case of intercoolers, the measurement may have to be on the dyno because the job of the IC is to cool incoming air. More air coming in on a non-learning ECU means leaner, which in turn means more power.

 

True, I was jsut stating what i read. I agree 100% about dynos. But I really think that having a heat coat put on it could help but I really dunno.

 

I fail... IC cool the air from the exhaust- not incoming air.

 

It's not a matter of the paint being heat coated or not. It's a matter of paint reducing/messing with the efficiency of the fins in/on the intercooler. Similar to a radiator. If you bend or dent the fins, it loses efficiency in that particular area.

Hot air from the turbo flows through tubes inside the intercooler. The 'turbo' air transfers heat to the tubes, warming the tubes and cooling the 'turbo' air. Outside air (or water) passes over the tubes and between fins that are attached to the tubes. Heat is transferred from the hot tubes and fins to the cool outside air. This heats the outside air while cooling the tubes. (if this makes any sense, I tried to describe it the best I could. )

That's pretty much how an intercooler works (to my knowledge). So when you're painting it, you're reducing the cool air flow and/or clogging up the fins that supply cool outside air to the tubes. And in return reducing the intercoolers efficiency. Maybe not much on back to back runs on a dyno. But on the street after awhile, it could make a huge difference.

 

Can't a dyno vary at least 5whp on different days? (Air temperature, density, humidity, moon phase, or whatever?) I'd take the guy from the FI forum's results for a grain of salt unless his method is repeatable and consistent without variance in other factors which can be beyond control.

We're talking a very thin coat of paint here, unless the guy clogged the area between the fins.

 

Ideally you'd anodize the intercooler instead of painting it.

 

I was jsut saying what he said. I never said I agreed with it and a powder coat of a High Temp coating shouldn't clog the fins if done correctly. You could always paint it then pick out the fins with a toothpick if you're really borred