Tom M'Guinn

Was the intercooler painted from the factory? Just trying to figure out if my spare was painted silver by somebody or if that's the way they come from the factory?

David Floyd

No intercooler paint here

blitz951

My stock intercoolers (2 cars) were not painted.

refresh951

Mine original IC was painted, not sure how it ended up that way.

Crazy Eddie

Surprised at the answers ....
I thought mine was painted .....?
It looked painted to me ?
There were even some stains on mine ( which of course I took care of )

darek_u

I have 2 stock intercoolers, both of them are painted - green primer (probably powder coat) and silver finish. The silver top coat isn't powdercoat for sure as the paint remover easily damages it. I found it hard way and had to respray...

lart951

all that I have seen (120+) have been painted silver.

eman930

I hear painting it black helps performance

rude944

The black paint gives a surface, in this case the intercooler, the ability to wick heat with no airflow through it. This had a bit of a jalopnik based meme moment as a result of this video from down under: This might work well for a drag racer, as they have may soak the IC between runs, and then just sit there, but for the rest of us, we use boost when we're moving.

Ever notice the oil cooler is black? Porsche knows.

Paulyy

Might not be paint, but epoxy.

Tom M'Guinn

Thanks all for the replies. It seems closer to water-color paint, based on how easily it comes off with brake cleaner. I wonder why they painted it?

Crazy Eddie

Brake cleaner can take off lots of paint
Its 25+ yrs old and its fragile .... Its not a heavy duty paint for sure
I am betting they did it to prevent corrosion.... Otherwise AL oxide, and it get all chalky

George D

Don't use rattle can paint. You can google heat dissipation coatings. Good link: http://www.ruktech.com/rukblackbody.html Plenty of scientific studies. Swain also has good stuff, but I can't have white intercooler pipes!!!

I'll start a new post once everything coated is back in the engine bay. Intercooler and all piping is having heat dissipation coating applied, and the intake will be ceramic coated on the exterior, and heat dissipation coated internally. I've seen the results from other cars, and it works extremely well.

George

KevinGross

I wouldn't believe any claims as to paint that increases thermal transfer without independent corroboration.

George D

Top quality paint will help with corrosion. The newer additives that "look" like paint, and have similar application mandates, aren't just paint. I've been using ceramic coatings on my commercial roof tops, and the thickness of a thumb nail have been tested with results averaging a R factor of 30. The Space Shuttle uses ceramic "paint" coating on the shuttle.

What is used on intercoolers, intake piping, etc. is different than rattle can paint.

Copy/Paste:

BBE Heat Emitting Coating
Coated Brake Caliper

For parts where you want to get heat out of a part instead of holding it in a part, our BBE coating is applied to help pull heat out of base metal. BBE is commonly used on intercoolers, air cooled cylinders, air cooled heads and brake calipers. Though the primary purpose of the coating is to improve cooling, the coating does offer a durable semi-gloss black finish.

I'm using this to keep corrosion at bay. A 5% differential isn't relevant in this application. I'll take it though.