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hey fellas,

just wondering if it's worth the effort and time to attempt to polish up a stocko gtr cooler so it's bare alloy instead of the black?

..and really there'd be no way to get the paint off the face of the fins anyway would there?

just wanted to ask the question, as i'm considering dropping ~1k on a pwr one, and really it's for the aesthetic of a nice shiney cooler rather than any performance gain as i know the stocko ones are pretty decent

any input would be appreciated!

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hey fellas,

just wondering if it's worth the effort and time to attempt to polish up a stocko gtr cooler so it's bare alloy instead of the black?

..and really there'd be no way to get the paint off the face of the fins anyway would there?

just wanted to ask the question, as i'm considering dropping ~1k on a pwr one, and really it's for the aesthetic of a nice shiney cooler rather than any performance gain as i know the stocko ones are pretty decent

any input would be appreciated!

as soon as you touch any of those fins with any force they'll bend, try and blast them they will bend. I wouldnt reccomend paint stripper as it could be too harsh but that would be the only thing i could suggest.

On the other hand, if the paint is good you could prep up the solid areas and paint it in a silver if thats the effect you want

I recommend Paint Stripper.

Got my car back from my panel beater and it was painted black so I bought a tin of Paint Stripper and took the front mount intercooler back to the bare metal like how my car came from Japan.

Just heavily mask up your front bar or better, take your front bar off and get a cheap paint brush and start applying the Paint Stripper and watch the paint it come off.

There is paint stripper for plastic and metal surfaces (different strengths) If your worried, get the one for plastic, but metal should be fine as that was the one I used.

Intercoolers work best unpainted.

cheers boys, pretty much the info i wanted

(oo)skyline(oo) is the cooler in your avatar just the stocko one? cos that's the look i'm chasing

LOL!

Nah it just a pic on the internet which I Photoshopped.

I will take a pic of my FMIC after the paintstripper, post it up tonight and show you.

It turned out very nice too.

Or I can PM you.

im keen to see your cool to man
if you chuck it up on this thread it'd be awesome

the forum won't let me use PMs until i've posted some more

Yeah no worries!

Here is what it looks like after the Paint Strip.

post-46584-1250646408_thumb.jpg

post-46584-1250646455_thumb.jpg

So much better!

Some ppl liked the black painted intercooler and said it looked tuff / sleeper, but I could not resist a bare metal cooler hehe!!

oven cleaner works good too.

only problem is that oven cleaner is caustic and shouldnt be used on aluminium. if you can be sure you can clean it sufficiently it wont harm it for small periods - works great for cleaning off burn oil from under cam covers though :)

i done mine myself with just spray paint.. just painted straight over the black lol

here take a look at the pic, i thought it came out pretty awesome as everyone thinks its an after market one lol.

post-55341-1251190711_thumb.jpg

if your going to paint strip it, after you have appllied th stuff, put some plastic sheeting over it for the recomended time it to be left on, this helps dramatically in removing the paint.. ( think it just keeps all the solvent in and stops oxygen gettin in) if ya didnt already know ;)

really?

would it not reduce it's effectiveness by having 2 layers of paint covering it or am i just being a baby??

i had that same thought and a few mates also made the same comment on having 2 layers of paint on it would clog up the fins. paint stripper in a can worked great and all i did was sprayed it on left it for a bit and hosed it of. done that a few times then just got some polish for the tanks. the pic in my last post isnt that great doesnt show how good it came up.

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