FMIC Paint or not?
 

Would painting an FMIC cause a big difference to its performance?

In my opinion i would say yes in a big way, strongly advise not to do.

depends what you paint/coat it with, if you were to powder coat it or use something like hammering then yes you would probably see a performance drop, i will be giving my front mount a light coat of paint to keep it discreet, as i don't like the "bling" look.

Yeah I was looking to tone it down maybe with a satin black finish but also assumed it might have an affect on it's performance an would quite possibly end up looking pretty shabby after a while unless anyone can advise otherwise I'll maybe just have to leave it alone once I get one.

i painted mine with this does the job keeps it discreet

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.a...s%20%28340g%29

I've literally just painted my fmic with satin black... I didnt use and special variety of paint, just the regular stuff you get from any car place.

I've got a white car and it looks a million times better than in the original silver colour.

I wouldnt expect it to affect the cooling in any dramatic way. The amount of cold air hitting it will cool the paint equally as much as the fins...

If I'm wrong please correct me, but I think you'll be ok painting it with regular paint. I wouldnt use hamorite or anythin like that tho

I'd say those using thin sprays, like satin acrylic, wouldn't be able to measure any performance drop if there was one, BUT:

Once it's painted, debris, chippings etc etc WILL knock the paint off, so you'll end up having to do it again and again.

My car had the lower grille meshed, it had to be resprayed every 18 months or so to lose the speckled look and keep it smart.

I'm NOT going to start painting my FMIC, for that very reason.

I painted the FMIC on my previous car after it started to look dull & scabby after a couple of years

gave it a couple of thin coats of satin black, which had no effect on performance, but looked much better

Very true, the paint will start chipping off over time from being pelted by little stones, but as said, a fresh coat of paint will soon cure that :)

+1:thumb:

I've done it, it looks good, didn't notice any difference in power,and if you are into your car which most of us are, a coat of paint every now and again isn't exactly a ball ache

Dave :)

Ah, but..............the paint builds up where it HASN'T been chipped, leading to possible blockages, poor air flow etc.

Or you paint strip it every 2 years? that would be ok wouldn't it? And the fins dont really get covered, not like the end caps. :)

Oh, go on then.:D

Not to blow my own trumpet but I did a superb job on mine and covered everything uniformly... not a single fin was missed, I'll post pics up when I get a chance so you can all wallow in my glory, lol

Here is mine, the fins aren't going to get completely covered as they run the complete depth of the FMIC:

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k1...cooby/fmic.jpg

Do you take the front bumper off every time you spray it?
How hard IS it to remove and refit a front bumper?

Yeah take the bumper off. 10 minutes? first time will be longer.

Dave

Spray the fmic front and back and at every angle imaginable and you will managed cover every millimeter of every fin...

You need to remove the headlights to remove the bumper, but its not a hard job

I just fitted mesh and sprayed it black. though saying that you can't see my FMIC through the mesh anyway :lol:

spraying a front mount with athin coat of paint will have no effect on the cooling at all,you would need to put atremendous amount of paint on to see any detrimental effect.

Or another way of doing it is to find some road works where they've just laid some fresh tarmac... smash thru the cones and pelt down the wet tarmac right up behind the mixer truck, then vere back on to the main road and speed off!

When you get some distance, stop and get out to inspect your efforts. You'll notice a thick black layer of tarmac welded to your fmic - result! :thumb:

Job done and you didnt have to spend a penny or even get out of your car.

http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/a...rontblank3.jpg
i no im a cheapskate should've bought a real one:D
its now fully black which looks better again another satin black one just halfords own regular paint. did it from all angles to get the fins as best as poss but its a very thin cover on the fins its practically impossible to gunk them up! i've noticed no performance decreases and its had a few touch ups:lol1: get some spray!:thumb:

i like that alot:thumb:nout wrong with cheating:lol1:

:D good old internet great for copying:Suspiciou (cough!) logo's onto cardboard for templates:D

think ill have ago at that myself:D

Aye think I'll go for the idea an see what happens can always sell it on if i dont like it. Anyone know what's the deal with Harvey's FMIC's I've heard they are good what's the price for a classic & how easy to fit any cutting of pipe work required?

I went up to Harvey and had a GT2 fmic fitted. They're very good value and not hard to fit at all :thumb:

The intercooler core is made of aluminium and so adhesion with normal paint can be problematic. For this reason for best results an etch primer is required followed by top coat.
Your bum dyno may not be accurate enough to detect any power difference but if you take the trouble to fit an air charge temperature guage to your car, £87.50 posted, and monitor the before and after temperatures carefully, you will see that there is a temperature rise following the application of paint on the intercooler core which is no longer as efficient as it was previously.
For every 4 degrees C. you lose 1% power. The temperature rise will not be dramatic but there will be a temperature rise and the thicker the paint coat the more the temperature rise.
Powder coating is a big no-no as that is an even more efficient heat barrier than a couple of light coats of paint.
Now having painted the intercooler core it will look pretty for a while but with road salt and continual abrasion from grit, stone chips etc. it will now require touch up a couple of times a year to keep it looking good and this touch up will add to the thermal barrier.

That's the answer I was looking for. It's not getting painted then.