Black Intercooler Better Performance....

Well hot damn I'm surprised on those non air feed results.. Almost couldn't believe it... Might paint mine black.

What you you lot thinking on these surprising results

First of all, Mighty Car mods are really good fun.

Regarding painting it black, then they did not take in consideration, the heat from the engine/radiator.

But could be fun to see a real test with a car and dyno.

well i'll be,

i await a chris wilson responce

I can't see how that's possible, I'd guess something went wrong with their test.

They're not painted black and with cold air intake OE without reason.

I've never understood why hot air intake and/or a shiny intercooler are trendy?

Interesting that.

Although in real life with airflow there was hardly any difference, it does suggest that if it was black, you would recover quicker from heat soak within the intercooler faster.

I can't see how that's possible, I'd guess something went wrong with their test.

Its to do with the fact that black will absorb all wavelengths of light, though what I hadn't taken into consideration is that it would make a difference in the emission of heat too.

Just imagine how great it would be if they'd painted it gold!

ive got a replacment oem one to go on ive had for 2 years, just carnt be harst to put it on, will do soon tho. anyhow ive painted it very lightly in black after spending hours sorting all the fins out, intercooler has done about 50k

this is it finished

Begs to ask the question, what was the ambient temp between the tests??

I would take this video with a pinch of salt.

Don't you think that if it made a huge difference then car manufactures that spend billions on research per year would have already researched and tested this??

Don't you also think that the new F1 cars (which have intercooler heat soak issues) would also have black intercoolers if it made any difference??

I am sure the likes of Toyota, GM, BMW and the all the F1 teams have better test equipment then a hairdryer a few heat sensors, a cheapo intercooler and a car fan ...

I rest my case

Here are a few F1 radiators, some very recent technology included. Sadly there are no backward baseball caps, no hair dryers, no dark, sleepy eyed "experts" and no confusion between convection, conduction and radiation. Also sadly, there are no black ones, maybe F1 hasn't cottoned on yet..... ? I could only bear to watch a little of the video.

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22F1+radiators%22&lr=&as_qdr=all&tbm=isch&imgil=mFSqwgKEToV_lM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcSS5N0zHpQ7LQT8zRIZSIPGaC2Cit2yoWLaXB0tnRc_pMky26xPbw%253B640%253B427%253BbA0vUBGQPpRtWM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.conceptracing.co.uk%25252Ff1-radiators%25252F&source=iu&usg=__klV6ux1rveVwLc8M5i9xsK63bgA%3D&sa=X&ei=vsChU6iaAobH7AbL6oCwDg&ved=0CKIBEPUBMAw&biw=1920&bih=1063#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=wPiB0e4GbLjClM%253A%3BT6TKYWsU2v41LM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.gurneyflap.com%252FResources%252FRB-006.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fforums.bit-tech.net%252Fshowthread.php%253Ft%253D149109%2526page%253D4%3B850%3B600

What do they know, they don't even have dump-valves.

But oem rads are always black in my experience :s

confusion between convection, conduction and radiation

Nail hit on the head there I think You'd only make conduction worse by adding another layer (i.e. paint), and it's conduction via moving air contact that provides the cooling here.

But oem rads are always black in my experience :s

Production, think Toyota are going to sit there and polish each one?

But oem rads are always black in my experience :s

The rad core isn't is it?

EDIT

You can see the one from my old car in this pic to the right, genuine Toyota rad, the core is silver

Well regarding the F1 cars there not black maybe as the video showed during airflow it wasn't quite as good. But during no airflow it was better. F1 cars don't really sit at idle often lol...

I'm no engineer or material designee but just a chat about the possibility that during idle the black one could be better...

Not many cars make boost at idle. The main criteria is how they reject heat when on boost, which would normally equal under motion, and not working as radiators. The problem is people accept the term "radiator" as the norm for a water to air heat exchanger, but for an intercooler, they accept the term "intercooler", where both perform similar functions. The correct term is "heat exchanger" and how heat is exchanged differs greatly between radiation, conduction and convection. The tests and desired properties differ greatly. I believe they misrepresented the desired effects in the video.

Not many cars make boost at idle. The main criteria is how they reject heat when on boost, which would normally equal under motion, and not working as radiators. The problem is people accept the term "radiator" as the norm for a water to air heat exchanger, but for an intercooler, they accept the term "intercooler", where both perform similar functions. The correct term is "heat exchanger" and how heat is exchanged differs greatly between radiation, conduction and convection. The tests and desired properties differ greatly. I believe they misrepresented the desired effects in the video.

Amen sir