Has anyone used Water Wetter in a race engine to assist with cooling?, any good or snake oil?.
40wav,
Jan 6, 2:54am
I've seen it used for fire fighting (Firetrol?) as it makes the water spread out far more than usual, but I just cant imagine it would be beneficial in a captive environment (like inside an engine) where the heat would be spread anyway.
Happy to be proven wrong though.
kazbanz,
Jan 6, 3:17am
yes and yes-but also its good for water pump seals and the innards of the cooling system .The issue with race engines is that we can't use the coolant everybody else can use--water wetter "replaces" glycol.
morrisman1,
Jan 6, 3:54am
Ive used it. Didn't notice any difference in temperatures but it gives you corrosion protection without the slippery glycol. Is your car currently running hot?
lookoutas,
Jan 6, 2:14pm
They use a soluble vegetable oil as a carrier with water, to assist spraying copper on pine trees. Mixed and loaded heaps of it a number of year ago. Reasonably thick, so could imagine not a lot would be required. But would pick that it would lube & protect things.
Interesting fact - due to the addition of the oil (can't recall the exact mix) and because of the oils weight and spreading abilities as it hit the leaves/needles, this concoction was spayed on at only 5 lts per hectare. Planes were going out and doing 200 hectares with one load. Sometimes away for 45 minutes.
esprit,
Jan 6, 2:55pm
Yes, use it on my race car, makes a small (but noticeable) difference to running temp when hot.
quickstitch,
Jan 7, 2:22am
stockcar boys swear by it, because after a few laps their radiators get clogged up with mud and that stuff keeps the temp down enough to survive the race.
socram,
Jan 8, 12:37am
Having witnessed the aftermath of an accident at Pukekohe where an Alfa slid off on the water from an Escort, totally wrecking the Alfa, I'm surprised that the Glycol isn't banned in race cars.
skiff1,
Jan 8, 4:35pm
why can't you use glycol kaz?
morrisman1,
Jan 8, 7:13pm
glycol has poor heat transfer abilities, so not good in any way in a race car (slippery and bad for cooling). Water wetter is not slippery, and improves heat transfer above and beyond that of plain water. I run it purely for the corrosion resistance without slipperiness. The extra cooling is a bonus. Temps peak at 90 degrees at the end of the teretonga straight. about 240hp SR20, 50mm radiator. Air flow through radiator is less than ideal but seems to be adequate.
pauldw,
Jan 8, 7:51pm
Water wetter is supposed to reduce the size of steam bubbles so the improvement probably depends on how likely your engine is to hot spot.
lookoutas,
Jan 8, 8:10pm
I hope there's no-one reading this who thinks it will be a good idea to put this in a road car!
Might be a good idea over the hot summer period, but Anti-freeze must go in for the winter. I had a good mate who I thought was a top petrolhead, tell me he was going to run his vehicles on it, coz his cars were all under cover at night, and they were always well warmed up before moving in the winter, so didn't need anti-freeze. Here's me on the other end of the phone telling him "You're beepin joking aren't ya?" Sadly - he wasn't! So that was a big "one-up" for me.
Many people have had that opinion coz their cars are garaged, but they get a hell of a shock when they start driving into ice cold air. I just didn't expect this mate of mine to be that dumb.
sr2,
Jan 8, 8:35pm
I've had success with Water Wetter in the past.
Water wetter reduces the surface tension of the coolant which in turn increases liquid to solid adhesion to improve thermal transfer. If you compare Water Wetter to a water/glycol mix in a glass beaker you'll see it has a very noticeably different meniscus (i.e. it is higher).
jason18,
Jan 8, 8:52pm
Would this be a good idea to use for towing.
dave653,
Jan 8, 10:05pm
I use it. I tried that green shit and the temps went up 15 degrees. on both cars. The Commy needs it, but my 202 is running cooler on Redline! As for winter use, it doesn't get cold up here.
lookoutas,
Jan 8, 10:08pm
And you're the ones who head south over winter, and grind/steam to a holt halfway down the desert Rd.
aredwood,
Jan 9, 6:44pm
If your car has airconditioning then you need antifreeze during the summer as well. Otherwise the coolant in the heater core will freeze and cause the core to leak.
lookoutas,
Jan 9, 10:01pm
Holy hell - That's a thought out of left field!
Did see where it can be used with a reduced portion of anti-freeze.
aredwood,
Jan 10, 2:52am
It happened to my older sister. She said that lots of steam started coming out of the heater vents. While the airconditioning was on. Goodbye heater core.
Have also seen that warning about aircon and antifreeze in some Haynes manuals.
morrisman1,
Jan 10, 3:00am
air con in a race car? Ive heard of it with endurance cars to keep the driver comfortable, thats worth more time than a couple extra horsepower with a fatigued driver does.
thefatfj,
Jan 10, 3:25am
put 2 pots of water on the stove add water wetter to 1 and not the other watch wat happens as they start to heat up,
dave653,
Jan 12, 12:13am
Nope! Took my HJ to the Sth Is once, 4 out of 5 days in Greymouth were absolutely miserable. (I was the only one with cold/wet weather gear). Engine never had a problem. Our coldest temps to worry about on a daily basis can get as low as. wait for it, 2! So 'antifreeze' is not on our 'must do' list. And it's 'halt', not holt.
lookoutas,
Feb 8, 11:09am
Good luck - teacher.
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