Intercooler black paint experiment

[Goat Blower]

I painted my IC black a few years ago along with my radiator. Purely aesthetic as I don't give a crap about a few degrees of supposed heat soak. I'll have to watch this when I'm not at work. :D

[BriK]

I actually think the testing is fairly sophisticated. Yes, it could be improved in a couple ways, but it's much better than a couple rednecks putting a meat thermometer on each end like you might otherwise expect from YouTube.

Stock Evo oil coolers are black.

[Speedfreak]

Interesting. So in applications where the intercooler doesn't get as much airflow as a front mounted intercooler, it may be beneficial to paint an intercooler black. If I can get my brain around believing this, I may have to try it.

[Kracka]

Interesting. So in applications where the intercooler doesn't get as much airflow as a front mounted intercooler, it may be beneficial to paint an intercooler black. If I can get my brain around believing this, I may have to try it.
Like on a C7 supercharger kit with horizontal mount intercooler? :D

[Halon]

Like on a C7 supercharger kit with horizontal mount intercooler? :D

Or an NSX w/ it horizontally mounted in the rear...

[Kracka]

Or an NSX w/ it horizontally mounted in the rear...
Even better.

[Speedfreak]

Or an NSX w/ it horizontally mounted in the rear...

Even better.

If only paint was like plasti-dip is supposed to be (peel-able). The core for that mofo was so expensive it'll be hard to paint it black.

[asshanson]

Stock intercooler on the Exige was black (not sure if painted or anodized), my aftermarket one was black anodized. Both mounted upright on top of the motor. I have a rear mounted bare aluminum intercooler now, with sub-par airflow at less than highway speeds due to a steep angle off the rear deck, air likes to just pass over top instead of going through.

Mo, why not anodize it? Seems to me like that would be better than paint. Cost is a bit higher though.

Can't watch the video here at work, can anyone give cliff notes? Based on comments it seems like the black performed better with little airflow, but about the same with a fan across it?

[Halon]

I'd imagine trying to clean off any coating between the fins wouldn't be fun.

For now I like my shiny FMIC, but someday if it starts looking beat up it's nice to know painting it won't really hurt it.

[Kracka]

Best of all worlds: black thermal dispersant coating

I had it on my Evo IX intake manifold and it looked good, plus seemed durable enough for an intercooler not in the direct fire of rocks and road debris.

If was effective enough to allow your hand to be held directly on the intake manifold plenum right after an autocross run; this was not possible before the coating. Not at all a scientific testing method, but it was enough real-world proof to be considered effective in my opinion.