Painting a radiator white.

D1craig · 30 Jan 2022 at 18:09

So what do I need to get to successfully paint my radiator white. I have never painting anything other than a wall in my life so some advice would be very much appreciated. Let's assume the radiator will he getting upto 60C temps wise.

Primer? Type of paint? Coats?

andicole0 · 30 Jan 2022 at 18:40

Check the cost of a new radiator.

radderfire · 30 Jan 2022 at 18:49

Search for radiator paint, there are specially formulated paints for this.

phil-k · 30 Jan 2022 at 20:18

radderfire said:
Search for radiator paint, there are specially formulated paints for this.

Yes there is special radiator paint

clone · 30 Jan 2022 at 21:39

Enamel paint in a spray can is best.

koolpc · 30 Jan 2022 at 21:49

clone said:
Enamel paint in a spray can is best.

Spray the cat at the same time too!

Fatpizza · 31 Jan 2022 at 07:32

Get some thin cardboard to cover the fins whilst you paint. Get some spare screws so that you can hang the radiator somewhere to dry between coats. Make sure to cover any empty g1/4 fittings so no paint gets inside the radiator. I usually use a primer before I paint just in case. Use quick drying stuff, don't bother with the spray paint that takes a day to dry etc. Use a flat white, don't use glossy.

I have painted quite a few AIO's and radiators. However....

I'd highly suggest saving yourself the trouble by just buying a new radiator in white.
Alphacool have just re-released a lot of their radiators in white. Black Ice have a lot of their radiators in white too.
Unless you are looking for an x-flow radiator, i don't know of any that come in white.

D1craig · 1 Feb 2022 at 21:17

I'm getting one of them external radiators. The nexxxos 1080 ones. I havent seen any in white.

Hewligan · 7 Feb 2022 at 10:24

Why not just buy white fans for the 1080? That way you don’t have to paint anything.
https://imgur.com/a/wnlD4qO

This was my old setup with the exact same radiator. If you used 9x white fans on this it would look pretty cool.

D1craig · 7 Feb 2022 at 18:46

The fans I bought cost me for 10 what it would cost for 3 other fans so I couldn't pass them up.

serious_adam15 · 11 Feb 2022 at 09:19

I painted 2 EKWB PE 360 Classics to white, used 400 grit to sand it a little bit and apply the paint better and used radiator spray paint from wilkos in glossy white

They came out amazing. Just make sure to do cover up the fins themselves with cardboard and masking tape.

D1craig · 12 Feb 2022 at 03:21

would it be a bad idea to hit the fions with some of the spray? i do have radiator that have the fins sprayed black ( you can see the copper colour if you look into the fins ).

Drumroll · 13 Feb 2022 at 08:23

D1craig said:
would it be a bad idea to hit the fions with some of the spray? i do have radiator that have the fins sprayed black ( you can see the copper colour if you look into the fins ).

Usually would affect performance at some extent. How much? Only testing.
Some auto spray paint may work. I don’t see a scenario where the radiator will be hot enough to need a specific radiator paint. The bit to be painted won’t be as hot as the fin/tubes area, anyway. When you take a radiator apart (the ones where it is possible, like the EK XE) you’ll notice that the outer casing doesn’t sit flush to the fin area. It will get warm only because is too close to the fin area, but if it was supposed to work as a cooling area, some thermalpad or any other solution would been applied to make use of that area.