foney_email

I have read that a light coat of rattle can paint on a radiator will increase cooling effiency. Does anyone have experience in this?

Cadillac

Well I hope this is true. I've got some overspray from the paint job last summer on my radiator.

Saigon_Bob

iTrader: (2)

if anything id say nope it stays the say

Green92RS305

if anything i would say it'd hurt your cooling efficiency more, ever heard of people burning up their differentials cuz they spray painted their diff covers? same concept. the paint is making the radiator more insulated by trapping the heat in when you want it to do the opposite and release heat. to what extent i'm not sure but i wouldn't recommend doing it. then again it might not hurt you but it certainly won't help you any.

Saigon_Bob

iTrader: (2)

if seen mags recommend spraying intercoolers black to make it less obvious... but you must spray it lightly with flat colors

Green92RS305

you can paint it to conceal it but its not gonna help your cooling any, that and black likes to attract the heat from the sun. any type of covering put on the radiator fins are gonna hurt it from cooling.

Saigon_Bob

iTrader: (2)

ohh makes sense

foney_email

I saw it in a magazine that had some company with their radiator paint. It suggested a light coat of rattle can to do the same effect. I have learned not to trust magazines 100% though, and I will leave it alone.

I am told that painting your engine anything but black helps in cooling it, because the paint draws heat away. I wondered if it would have the same effect. Thanks for the replies.

spartyon

1. paint will retain heat. that means keep it in. if it has a good covering of paint it will retain heat. Same reasoning behing painting a block. retaining heat in the block isn't that big of a problem because you can upgrade the water pump, radiator, etc. to help cool it off. Now there has been much talk about powdercoating a block but i feel that is like putting a concrete wall over a door...you can't get in or get out.
2. Darker colors attract heat. It does not matter if it is the sun or your oven. The darker it is the hotter it will get. Painting an intercooler black, even though it hides it a little better, takes away from the purpose of the intercooler...to cool.

Saigon_Bob

iTrader: (2)

come to think of it i believe the intercooler was powdercoated

MrDude_1

unless you're talking about a air->water intercooler, that person was just stupid.. lol.

spartyon

Saigon_Bob

iTrader: (2)

well i dont really remeber... but it all makes sense now....


would powdercoating a diff or oilpan affect badly

Green92RS305

your oil would get get hotter than normal and break down the addatives faster i'm guessing. and i know for a fact that you can easily burn up your differential by painting, chroming, or powdercoating the cover/housing. leave the pretty paint for suspension parts and not critical engine/powertrain parts IMO.

FSTFBDY

iTrader: (33)

Where are these facts of burnt up diff. because of paint?? Ive never heard of this. or read about this.

I powdercoat rear diff covers all the time, oil pans also..
Valve covers, intakes,etc....

Im sure it will make you retain some heat but nothing noticable.

They make a Coating for radiators to disipate heat better.

spartyon

What is this radiator coating? Because it sure isn't a spraypaint can or powdercoating. My gues is it is specially formulated for this purpose. The original statement was for paint with paint or powdercoating. Now I have never heard the exploding rear end due to paint but it does hold some truth in that paint will retain heat. Your statement of not noticing it is kind of false. Look at headers, even though this works in the opposite way we are talking about. Headers paint is very thing which will cause under hood temps to rise, which we can see and measure. If you get a set of headers coated like from jet hot, the coating seals in the heat and doesn't transfer it into the engine compartment. You can measure and see this. That is no different than thinking about it and a radiator.

FSTFBDY

iTrader: (33)

You dont have to tell me about coatings.
I own my own company doing CERAMIC,THERMAL and Powdercoatings.

I back my work better then "JET HOT"or any other company out there. with a lifetime warrenty on new parts and a 3year on used. Compaired to Jet Hots 3month on used.

anyways........

There are TONS of coatings out there and yes they are "PAINT" like. You shoot them out of a paint gun. Just like painting a car..... You can coat pistons, header, bearings, rings,everything...

You name it I coat it. oil pump gears,rear end gears. Unsder side of pistons,rods,oil pans,cams, lifters,lifter bores in the block... cylinder walls, etc....

This is the Thermal Disapant for use on everything Including radiators...

spartyon

i know your history on these boards and am not trying to take anything away from you. what you posted is a specialized paint intended for purposes like this. it is not regular paint.

Firechicken91

Not to take away from TPI383's bussiness, but Swain also has a thermal dispersing coating. One of the examples they give is using this coating on a NASCAR transmission. Point is, this stuff is out there, but you can't just get it out of a rattle can.

As far as painting radiatiors, they do come from the factory painted black. I don't see how painting a higher efficiency radiator could hurt, but I don't see the benefit either. Let that thing shine!

For anything else, painting still isn't going to hurt. Blocks and rearends (including cover) all come from the factory painted black. Yes, black is a hotter color, but with the temps that these parts see on a regular basis, color isn't going to make any noticable difference, so paint to your heart's content. Personally, my rearend is rattle can black (although I do have an aluminum girdle style cover) and my project engine block is powder coated using high-heat black.

Green92RS305

the facts for diffs burning up come from my instructors who've worked many years in dealerships/independents. and paint may not retain that much heat but put a crome diff cover on your rear end and then check the fluid in 10K miles, it'll prolly look like it was in there for 50K+. heat breaks down lubrication/additives in oil. dunno about the factory paint thing since it usually comes off pretty quick and then rust sets it but you won't see me painting my rear end housing/cover or my block or my oil pan for that matter. the black paint could also simply be a rust preventer for the trip from the factory to the dealership.

FSTFBDY

iTrader: (33)

No its not in a "RATTLE CAN" but anybody with motivation and buy a bottle and do it. Its not rocket science. Its just like painting anything else is you use a real paint gun. Only diff is it requies you to cure it which most people cant do. The trick around that is buy a radient heat setup.

The SWAN stuff is the same as I use. Just like anything almost the same product just different companies.

As for your tech instructors.. I still never heard that and I have quite a few asce certs. Im a licenced Aviation tech also. and never head it in my 30yrs of being around. if it was that big a proplem the factory wouldnt pait anything.

spartyon

Correct me if i am wrong but arent our radiators black plastic tanks? Mine was black plastic tanks and bare aluminum fins/core.

FSTFBDY

iTrader: (33)

Stock yes they have plastic end tanks. but for someone like me running a aluinum griffin and a LARGE single turbo and big cube small block , every little coating helps.

Firechicken91

Sounds like an old wives tale to me. I spent two years training in the GM ASEP program to be a dealer technician. Since my training(10 years ago), I am now currently 100% trained in all GM technical areas and have earned my ASE Master Technician. I also have spent several years as an Apache Helicopter technician for the Army. Not once have I ever heard of paint causing a readend to burn up. Everyone in my shop and in my local club has painted their rearends, blocks, and transmissions. When I rebuilt my rearend from a posi 3.08 to a T2R 3.42, I painted it and haven't had any trouble yet - that was about 27,000 miles ago. If these instructors have you nervous about painting this stuff, simply add an aluminum cover to the rearend or an auxillary oil cooler or better water pump, or better radiatior to the engine. Not painting these parts will simply cause surface rust to set in and nobody likes to look at a rusty car.

As for the radiators, the side tanks are made of a plasic composite material on an aluminum core. These "plastic" side tanks are extremely prone to cracking, especially in older vehicles and high-heat such as brief overheating, however the tanks can be replaced. Most high-efficiency radiatiors have more rows in the core and TIG welded aluminum side tanks.

jocool

Before my camaro I owned a 69 Baja Bug, and a recall reading in a study that there was a 10 degree drop in temperatures on their air cooled motors if it was painted black. Alot of guys with nice beetles always paint the motor the same color as their car and it looks great but supposedly they would run cooler with no paint or black. Don't know if it's true but always thought it was interesting.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

this post is far far far too funny. anyone with any type of metallurgy background would laugh at you guys for adding rattle can paint to a rear end and have it blow up or overheat. this is crazy. so i guess all these powdercoated rearends i'm putting in cars shouldn't be powdercoated from the manufacturer. anytime you add diff fluid to a car and drive around the block and back in the color will change. that's life. I don't see how some rustoleum would affect a rear end, oil pan, etc. Your instructor is more than welcome to go to a real school to learn about how fluids interact with the containers they are placed into and how temperatures may differentiate due to coatings. But as for now we'll dismiss this as a wives tale, because if it changed more than 1 degree I would be shocked.

Mark1963

Have a look at this web page. Although it's a test on pc heatsinks, the principle is the same.
Mark
http://www.a1-electronics.net/Heatsi...lack_Feb.shtml