> From: pwcs.StPaul.GOV!phile@medtron.medtronic.COM (Philip J Ethier)
> Subject: Re: Paint on calipers?
> To: cobra@snakebyte.cdc.hp.com (Roland Dudley)
> Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 13:54:22 CDT
>
> >skeptical about painting them. It seems to me this would reduce their
> ability to dissipate heat.
>
> Then why are you supposed to paint radiators black?
>
Radiators come with a very large built-in surface area to allow heat
exchange to occur. Calipers have a relatively small surface area, a
large part of which consist of the roughness of the casting itself.
Seems to me that by painting them the additional surface area due to
this irregularity would be smoothed and reduced. Radiators are painted
black I suppose to draw the interior heat to the surface where it can be
dissipated and painting them doesn't reduce this area by much. I doubt
the this effect would be as important as reducing the surface area on
something a small and massive as a caliper. None of the new cars I ever
owned had painted calipers or brake drums but all of them (except my VW,
of course) had painted radiators.
Roland
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