A couple years back there was an episode of horse power tv about engine thermal efficiency. One thing they mentioned was the finish on the intake manifold. IIRC chrome and polished aluminum look nice but from a heat transfer standpoint are the least efficient finish. Natural aluminum was next. Flat or satin black paint was supposed to be the best though. So based on that and the fact I want my intercooler to not standout so much what would painting it satin black do? Is it recommended?

 

There is some kind of heat exchanger coating that increases the surface are ALOT, im guessing it has small sand like particles that help it achieve this, but not sure about paint.

 

Id definatly paint it. Satin would be perfect. I dont have any experience with intercoolers but I have painted the true cool 40k trans coolers and it doesnt effect the heat exchange at all.

 

IMO exact opposite strategies. With an intake you DON'T want to exchange heat with the air in the engine compartment. With an intercooler you DO want to exchange heat with the cool air from outside.

 

What would we do without google?


Found this:
Eastwood 10340Z Eastwood Radiator Paint

 

Find a local place that does ceramic coating for headers and whatnot, they should have a heat dispersant coating, that is what you want. It is usually black.

 

$15 a can *** that lol

 

I honestly wouldn't paint it. It might be expensive, but I would consider anodizing it if I wanted it black that bad.

 

Painted mine just to keep it sleeper looking, but can't tell you anything about difference in IAT's vs non-painted.

 

I used to have a SRT4 with a Big front mount intercooler on it and painted it with the eastwood radiator paint and never seen a change in performance...