Looking at Redline Oil's info about "Water Wetter", I was struck by one particular section:

"50% glycol raises head temperatures by 45°F. This increase in temperature will raise the octane required for trace knock levels by typically 3.5 octane numbers. A car equipped with a knock sensor will retard the timing to compensate for the increase in octane requirement by approximately 5°, which will reduce the maximum brake torque by about 2.1%."

They claim "Water Wetter" reduces temperatures by upto 30 degrees F - or alternatively reduces the effect of adding coolant by two thirds....

 

I've been using it for a while now too -- can't say it's made any noticeable difference to the engine temps I get, or to running, apart from the fact the water temp rises faster than it used to.

I just put it in as insurance, really -- I suppose you'd see the biggest difference if just running water and the wetting agent, but not a good idea from the corrosion point of view ....

 

This has been a very interesting posting.
Being based in Perth WA -never freezes -it appears having a coolant being Glycol based , is detrimental to the performance of the engine.
The biggest problem here is heat .
Ambient in the summer months often exceeds 40c.
If water wetter provides adequate corrosion protection and according to test results -appear to exceed a glycol based coolant - then a water wetter only coolant seems to be the way to go.
I already use their synthetic oil and would not use anything else.

 

Rob,

I'm pretty sure that WW does not provide corrosion protection from their info.

What is interesting that using water + 20% coolant (minimum that should be used apparently) and WW should be better than plain water......

Here is another link about WW which discusses how it works and it seems to concentrate on localised hotspots and how they encourage detonation:

 

Andy

You're both right and wrong!

You are correct in your statement about the coolant temperature being kept the same by the thermostat despite the improved heat transfer properties of the WW. However, the performance gain claimed for WW comes from its ability to transfer the heat away from sensitive areas of the cylinder head, and hence prevent detonation (as stated by Gavin). This allows the use of higher compression / boost ratios, and hence more power. In Scooby terms, this will reduce the need for the ECU to retard the ignition in hot weather or if you use poor quality fuel.

WW is extensively used in racing engines as it also allows the use of smaller (and hence lighter) cooling systems.

Duncan

 

Hi Gavin

I don't understand why your engine should run cooler with the water wetter.Surely the temp of the engine is goverened by the thermostat not by the heat transfer ability of the coolant mix.If the water wetter does actually improve the heat transfer capability then won't the thermostat simply run slightly further closed to compensate?.

The only time I could see a benefit would be on cars where the cooling system cannot loose enough heat even with the thermostat fully open.In our climate I don't think that ever happens on Imprezas.

Andy