I have seen RP ICE work very wel in some vehicles of miine and others not so well but I have never seen it NOT improve the cooling.

 

I used water wetter in a muscle car a long time ago, I was surprised to see the temp drop approx. -20F.

 

I think it's a con.
What you're seeing is that water has twice the specific heat of glycol so changing from 50-50 water glycol to water with a drop of pink dye in it gives 125% the heat transfer capacity.

 

the stuff I used was added to a normal 50/50 antifreeze mix.

 

Standard coolant already contains the same ingredients as 'water wetter'. Adding more doesn't make it 'water wetter-er-er'.

Unlike some poorly designed muscle cars of the 60s, cars today have very efficient cooling systems that allow the thermostat to control engine temps under any and all conditions. If some 'miracle fluid' was added to the coolant that allowed a decrease in the coolant temperature, the thermostat would simply close to bring the temp back up to the design point.

Waste of money.

 

The only test write up I could find that showed a significant lowering of temperature compared 50-50 water glycol with 1 part wetter in 32 parts water.
Re Mikey's comment - this review measured cylinder head temp in 3 places and there was a significant drop there.
It's a shame they didn't use plain water as well.

 

Those results sound typical of a comparison between typical coolant mix vs. plain water in an unregulated open system. Most likely the water wetter 'just happened to be there' and had minimal effect on temperature reduction. As you said without a comparison with plain water, it's pretty much a meaningless test.

 

Absolutely agree - red icing sugar dye would have worked as well.

 

Not true, vette's will overheat on a really hot day in traffic and I used water wetter in mine and it does work. And as one that rebuilds muscle cars and having a 70 Cuda 383 and 73 Charger 340, I can tell you the cooling systems were not poorly designed, they were at the mercy of a cooling fan driven by the motor, were today's cars are electrically driven, which means when a the car is idling, the electric motor can keep turning the fan at the same RPM, where the engine driven one cannot.

 

Funny- old Corvettes is what I had in mind when I posted above regarding poorly designed '60s muscle cars. You can argue that it's the clutch fan that is the root cause- but that's part of the cooling system nonetheless. Mine still has the almost 40 year old stock fan and clutch on it and nevers exceeds 200ish on the hottest days. GM designed the assembly with hot weather and idle speeds in mind.

If you're saying that NEW Corvettes overheat on a hot day- there's something wrong that needs to be repaired. Bubba may have been for a visit under the hood.

 

92-96 came out new running hot, the LT1 engine is designed to run 195-210 and the main fan comes on at 210 and the secondary comes on at 228. Car over heats around 240, so you can see there is very little wiggle room. Plus the car is a bottom breather and sucks in the hot air above the street, plus the radiator is buried behind the tranny cooler and a/c, it is a REALLY bad design, plus the radiator is single core, instead of doubled.

 

It works and it is sound chemistry
Water Wetter - It is an additive product. Water Wetter is what is called a “surfactant.” What this means is that it reduces the surface tension of the water or in other words, it allows the water/fluid to “rub” closer to the metal allowing it to better draw off heat. Water Wetter works and it is good stuff.


The benefits of WaterWetter or Purple Ice are:
-Doubles the wetting ability of water
-Improves heat transfer
-Has the ability to reduces cylinder head temperatures
-Reduces rust, corrosion and electrolysis of all metals
-Provides long term corrosion protection
-Cleans and lubricates water pump seals (new waterpumps do not need seal lubrication tho....)
-Prevents foaming
-Reduces cavitation and the corrosion that goes with
-reacts with hard water to reduce scale

 

All antifreeze/coolants contain sufficient surfactants. Adding more changes nothing.

 

Depending on the age or freshness of the coolant and if you choose to run something other than 50/50 as Water alone is a better coolant than EG style coolants.

Here in Texas, lots of guys run a less than 50/50 mix in 1000HP machines as the coolant requirements are greater than antifreeze can provide.

 

either it changed something or three guys in this thread don't know how to read a temp gauge

 

LoL...this question is asked a lot in other threads like the S type and STR. This looks like an on going debate just like which is the best motor oil out there

 

Forums and discussions would be no fun if all we did was read old posts. It's not human nature.

 

Engine cooling capacity is already good for our cars, so there is no need for any change there.

If you would push your engine to the max (i.e. racing where due to cars in front of yours limit airflow for instance), the tiny difference water wetter could make will not save your day imho, then it’s better to consider these options:
- NPG+ (or similar)
- More powerful fans
- Aerodynamic changes to allow more airflow over the radiators
- Larger radiator but that would also require more powerful fans to pull (or push) more air thru.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I could have really used it in the 80's when I was driving 60's and 70's muscle cars.

I really doubt it would make a difference in my XKR. It might lower temps, but isn't the engine already running at optimal temperatures by the computer?

 

water wetter......its a hydrophobic oil, meaning a long chain of molecules which repels water. its entire purpose is to inhibit water's ability to form hydrogen bonds with anything at all, including itself when placed in a moving solution. what it does on the molecular level is coat the inside of your system and prevent water from contact with the metals. if you use it for long enough, you will notice that when dried, every component in your system will form an interesting non-ionic white film. it does not adhere to the metals, rather it flees the water to the easiest place it can in a closed loop system, the walls of the tubing, blocks, fittings, etc.

The reason it is beneficial for cooling is it decreases the surface tension of water and allows for much higher flowrates. most importantly though it increases the flowrate at the edge of the tube. its well known that the flow rate in an enclosed system utilizing water in any form of solution is highest in the center of that system and approaches zero at the edge partly because of water's surface tension and partly because of the varying pressure through the tube. as aforementioned, water wetter will reduce the attraction of water to the metals in your blocks/radiator, and will therefore acheive a much higher flowrate at the edge of the system where the heat transfer occurs. W Q = mCp(deltaT) so a higher flowrate is better.


Yes yes yes, new antifreeze has the same components in it, but like most things thes components wear out and a quick shot of WW or RP will boost it up again.