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hey guys,

i have been reading some threads about DIY painting FMIC to black.

THings i have done are:

spraying it with etch primer x 1 layer or maybe abit more.

then let it dry. it says 10 minutes drying time (second layer wait for 1 hr) which i didnt read and i sprayed the high temp paint on it after 25 to 30 minutes.

i gave the intercooler a few layers ot the high temp paint. every thing seems nice n paint seems even.

after letting it to dry for half hour(says on bottle - dried to touch in 10 minutes) after 30 or so minutes. i installed the FMIC back into the car. gave it another 45 miuntes to dry.

And i started the car. drove it around n couldnt feel any problem.

been driving the car around for a few days. nothing seems to be wrong...

so what can go wrong?? losing cooling efficiency seems to be wat everyone been telling me. besides that wat can go wrong to the FMIC or even the car?

thanks in advance.

Paint is not a particularly good or bad conductor so it wont make much difference really. You'd have to set up some experiments to confirm that. That said if all you care about is performance, painting it black really can only hamper the flow and heat exchanging. Up to you whether that is as important as the aesthetic or 'stealth' factor.

black attracts heat more so than what the color of aluminium will...something you dont want in a heat soak. I.e. say your in the sun, it will get hotter than if it were just left unpainted-something which will hamper performance. However, it also sheds heat quicker than any other color i.e. say your in the shade or the cooler is well covered then it will lose heat quicker than if it were left unpainted.

Really as stated earlier it makes sweet fa difference to performance. Main factor it changes is the attention you get-good and bad. Its up to you but iv left mine unpainted and it saves you having to paint it every so often after the paint eventually flakes off.

Edited by R32Abuser

Itll slow down the heat exchange rate a little bit (though not enough to worry about unless you put on like 5 coats). If your really worried about it use paint stripper on it and then get the cooler black ANODIZED. Changes the outer layer of material rather than coating it. And it can make it a little bit tougher depending on what anodizing you use. Plus it will never flake off.

Good luck

leewah did this a couple of months back (but he had micolour piant it...) my guess is that he researched the pro's and cons a fair bit before he did it to a 10 sec car

leewah did this a couple of months back (but he had micolour piant it...) my guess is that he researched the pro's and cons a fair bit before he did it to a 10 sec car

did what, sorry im not sure what you referring to (obviously not the glad wrap idea :banana:), the spraying or anodizing ?

OK, your problem will have uncovered a few other issues you may need to consider (despite all the other replies being full of "dun worry dude, its all good" etc etc etc.

Firstly, your "rice" level has just taken a nose dive big time! You may find that the monster tacho with a redline of 15 00000000000rpm is now completely redundant. This is not cool!

Apart from the complete lack of "fuwwly HeKtIc BrO" you will recieve at the local drive thru Macca's, your chance of picking up "wif teh womenz" will be significantly lower.

The only thing that can save this is a crapload of neons STAT!!!! A GTR badge is also highly recommended, as is a complete shopping list down both doors (bonus "uleh's" if you can slip a random Ralliart or Mugen sticker in there as well.) Oh, no matter what else happens, get a dose pipe or one of those frontal lobotomy inducing BOV's (y'know, the ones you can get from supercheap that are so loud they give you brain surgery unasked?)

Just be grateful that you didn't try this on a Honda - your v-Tec's would be horribly low due to the leakage this influx of stealth would bring!

(BTW, in al seriousness, the colour of your intercoooler will only be affected by the amount of heat it is able to reflect, ie black reflects f**k all heat and light, whereas white reflects almost all - if your 'line is white, I think that would be a much better way of hiding it and not affecting the cooling capacity)

(BTW, in al seriousness, the colour of your intercoooler will only be affected by the amount of heat it is able to reflect, ie black reflects f**k all heat and light, whereas white reflects almost all - if your 'line is white, I think that would be a much better way of hiding it and not affecting the cooling capacity)

true, but black also disperses heat faster

white fmic would look as ugly as sin

  • 2 weeks later...

I heard that if its black but properly sprayed so that it wont come off like a can will, it will actually be better for the car as the black draws the heat out of the cooler just like black radiators.

Is this right?

I heard that if its black but properly sprayed so that it wont come off like a can will, it will actually be better for the car as the black draws the heat out of the cooler just like black radiators.

Is this right?

yes, black also disperses heat fastest but it also absorbs it the quickest.

So in a a location like where the radiator is under the bonnet, there is no light contact so black is a good choice to disperse heat. On the front of the car with a big fmic on show, black would absorb heat faster just sitting there in the sun, but once you were driving around it would also disperse heat faster.

Either way it would make bugger all difference in most applications, and the only real reason you would do it is for some sort of "stealth" effect

THe colour of something will only effect its ability to absorb light energy.

White reflects light heat, black absorbs light heat.

So unless u have a 1kw floodlight in front of your fmic, colour don't do sh!t

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