Hello,

I searched and didn't see anyone ask this before, but would it be okay to lightly paint my oil coolers? Got some aftermarket ones from a site vendor here but they came in black, and then I noticed these guys and think a painted set would look nice, so figured if I get some high temp paint I could do it myself.

I understand any sort of paint would "insulate" the oil coolers to a degree and possibly reduce their effectiveness, but I've read conflicting info as to whether that would be negligible or not.

Thoughts?

 

It depends on the paint. High temp enamel like you put on a valve cover or something is way too thick. Radiator paint is usually very thin, but I have no idea if you can buy it easily somewhere. It doesn't need to see temps much above boiling so "high temp" isn't the important part here.

 

Hmm guess I shouldn't use then. I was hoping if sprayed thinly, and only on the front, the "insulating" effects would be minimal, but I'm not too sure on the specifics of paint vs no paint vs radiation vs convection etc

 

Enamel doesn't really do "thin", if you don't have enough it'll sit on the surface in little globs. It can be done right, you just need the right type of paint.