NEEDS HELP RE: PAINTING MY RADIATOR"

[clengster_77]

not really...i think aluminum adds more to the racing look....

[jestersrain]

I would strip it and crome it...lol shiny

[clengster_77]

chroming costs a lot here in the philippines so i guess i have to stick to the paint thing...hehe!!!
do you guys chrome ur rads back there?sorry guys u got a newbie here

[TheSilentChamber]

chrome radiator would be a bad idea, the fins wouldnt cool off.

[90civicracer]

Chrome can suck my nuts. Just my opinion though.

[jestersrain]

ok maybe not crome but i know i could get a aluminum rad. thats nice and shiny rather then a black one

[90civicracer]

I'd rather mine be black. I don't need my engine to be all flashy and shiny. Clean, yes...bling bling, no.

[TheSilentChamber]

what no bling for the 4g4d?

[90civicracer]

Nope.

[91lxdreamer]

What?!? Come on Mike, Imma get those 13" spinner hub caps...and I wanna chrome my whole car...give the whole damn thing some BLING BLING baby...

[90civicracer]

Theres a kid at my school with 14" spinner hubcaps on his Escort and he thinks he's the shit. When I was getting my new tires mounted the day before the trip to K-Falls, I saw him at Perfection Tire and he came in and was putting chrome wheels and shit on the computer with his car in there (that computer program u guys had). It was hilarious. I talked to the guy there and the guy said he comes in once in a while and just looks, never talks about buying or anything. When he was there like 15 min, he had 2 things of coke and like 2 bags of chip from the vending machine, lol.

[jestersrain]

thats great i woulda ask y hes in a place when he has such cool spinners already

[Jason F]

This is an old post but I thought I'd add my 2 bob worth for future readers.

In order to remove heat from parts of the engine (metal to air), science says the best colour is matt black (for everything).
The reason the radiators fins are originally black is to maximise heat transfer. If you want the radiator to perform optimally, clean it out (from scale and sludge), wash the outside between the fins to remove bugs etc, dry it and paint with purpose designed radiator black paint. It is thinner than normal paint so it will not glug up the fins. Do not get it powder coated as this is a thick coating and will just reduce heat transfer significantly.

Same deal goes with other hot parts of the car such as exhaust header. The reason they are NOT normally chromed (or painted silver) for example, is that this is the worst possible scenario. The best colour to paint extractors (and other hot items) is matt black. It might not look so cool but it improves: horsepower, engine life, oils life, etc.

I have found that some things are best left to the engineers who came up with the optimum design arrangements in the first place.

Jason from Sydney Australia.