I''m replacing my s4 bumper with s5 bumper and I want to paint my fmic flat black so it can't be seen as much unless you really look. What are the negatives about doing this?
Will it heat soak faster being black?
Will painting it cause it not to flow properly anymore because of the paint plugging the fins?
Any other problems it may cause?
do the negatives out weigh the positives?
The positive being it not being seen at all...

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks

 

not really sure but maybe powder coating it would last longer. I think the paint would chip off from rocks in a week or so time.

 

I can't really see the point in that

people are eather going to know what it is or won't

I'm guessing you want to do this to keep it from getting vandalized?

and I hope you know the s5 bumper isnt made for a front mount eather

 

Painting the intercooler won't hurt it at all, as long as you make sure the airflow through it isn't inhibited... Oh and the S5 bumper is just fine for a front mount... I got one...

 

Maybe he's painting it so the cops don't see it so easily, big problem in Cali.

 

Doubt it's such a problem in Maine though lol... Probably just wants to be a sleeper...

 

it's pretty much b/c of law enforcement here in Toronto. I have this feeling they gonna be really bad this year. I also want it sleeper to the normal eye. Obviously to the trained eye nothing can really be hidden.
Is there a type of paint I can use that is thinner that won't inhibit flow?

Thanks for the help

 

have you looked at the fins on your intercooler lately?

how thick do you think paint is anyway? were you going to dip the intercooler in 45 gallon drum?hahaha

Just use some enamel spray balm. unless you COAT that thing many many times, or pour paint on it, you WILL NOT bridge any gaps between the plates, or fins, whichever style you have.....paint just simply is't that thick, we're talking mils here....thats it.

 

Shouldnt have any bearing on heat transfer either if youre worried about that. The frontal plane of the IC is a small fraction of the total cooling surface. Like classicauto said: just dont get crazy with the paint.

 

all i can say is it's going to look good for about a week. then it's going to look like crap and really hinder the look of the car. I would powder coat if I where you.

 

why, have you painted your intercooler before? did you follow all the steps that would promote optimal adhesion? what kind of paint material?

I have done this exact thing for customer on transport trucks........no issues.


Question, those names that companies put on the centers of rads/intercoolers...... are those stickers or paint? how long do they stay on?.................interesting..............

 

if you are worried about the cops seeing it just vmount it and be done with it

 

well all the pics on the net I've ever seen of painted intercoolers always looks like *** after about a week or so of debree hitting the intercooler. I'm not sure what steps you are talking about to promote optimal adhesion but it doesn't matter how much the paint sticks, if a rock hits it or any debree flying at 50+ miles an hour it's going to chip it. And i have mine painted and it's just aluminum so I really can't tell if it's chipping or not but with black you will see it for sure.

 

In an issue of Sport Compact Car a while back they had an article on good sleeper mods and one was to paint the front mount black. I don't have the issue with me, but there was some company that developed a speacial coating to increase heat transfer, and they tested normal black paint and found that it did not affect the heat transfer rates in any significant way.

 

search online for black radiator paint. My friend painted his greddy core with this stuff on his SR and it's held up fine for a year no chips or anything. He even painted some pipes and it held up fine with engine bay heat.

 

thank you very much for all the replys.
I worried about this for a bit. I was even thinking of putting an ugly *** ricer mesh grill painted black in front but decided against it cause of the rice.
I'll be sure to put a pic when I'm done putting painting it and putting the s5 bumper on. The fc is coming out of storage on Apr 1.

Thanks again for the help
Tim

 

If the powdercoat can be extremely controlled at around 1-3 mils throughout, it might be ok. If not, you could drastically insulate the IC with too much coat (3+ mils). Now at the powdercoating shop I worked at, our guys could barely manage to maintain a 1-3 mil tolerance. Its really a question of the skill of the coater.

We also had an elaborate device that would act as a rotisserie to certain parts that had to meet specific tolerances. This apparatus would be hung on the line as a normal piece, with the part rotating inside of a jig. All this in the hopes of preventing runs.

If the powdercoat isn't applied correctly, and has to be removed, I would question the strenght of the IC after it has been heated to over 500 degrees.

 

If it's black, it's less visible and less noticeable. Do you really need this to be explained?

Then you need to stop looking at pictures of cars owned by people who don't know how to apply paint properly. You also need to turn down that over-active imagination. Where exactly is all this debris going to come from? I don't know what it's like where you live but I don't usually have any problem with huge clouds of sticks and stones flying through the air hitting the front of my car...

So instead of putting on an "ugly *** ricer mesh grill", put on a decent looking one instead. I used 12mm square mesh painted black (many layers, hardly any chips) and mounted on a 45deg angle. It looks factory-ish and can barely see seen most of the time.

 

that's a nice clean look, I like....

 

that looks nice nzconvertible...
thanks for the pic.

here's a few pics that I took today. Both are with the bumper off because I'm changing from a s4 s5 bumper. My fmic is pretty far back so I don't think it will be seen easily.
I'll have to take pics and show you guys when I put the bumper on.

thanks for all the feedback

Tim

 

NZ, I must ask. Is there a FMIC on your car. If there is, you've got me good, because that looks very factory.

Great job.

 

mk1ldragon looks like that things far enough back that its probably gonna be hard to notice reguardless if its painted or not.

though painting cant hurt for concealment

 

 

just use a bunch of black crayola crayons, you dont even need to use them to color, just jam them in there until you get the desired effect......lol


NZConvertable, thats is really clean, i like it, maybe i will do the same when i go turbo

 

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?i...emType=PRODUCT
This is the stuff you want to use,it's made for rads and heat rejection.