Quote:
Originally Posted by LAP1DOUG
Water Wetter is a surfactant that allows the liquid to better wet the surface for heat transfer, as water has a naturally high surface tension factor, and needs help in this regard. Red Line makes some good products including Water Wetter, and I take exception to anyone characterizing this as a "fools errand"
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You can take it any way you want, but Red Line, and other small boutique “blenders”, have been pushing products with questionable “advantages” often based more marketing hyperbole then technical facts (RL and another similar company were called out on the web more than once for claiming they have lubricant products “approved for applications requiring ACEA ratings"; only problem is that the ACEA says they have never submitted their products for any of the mandated independent lab testing protocols, so they can’t possibly be “approved”).
In a laboratory, the total “improvement” in heat transfer from the addition of this and similar surfactant mixtures is marginal at best; and even then is only temporary as the surfactants quickly break down. On a fully instrumented engine tests, the level of improvement when the mixture is fresh is so small as to be considered insignificant, and then goes away completely when the surfactants start to deteriorate. For short runs in a ten-tenth’s racing application, it may provide some very small level of improvement, but again, no where near what you would get from reducing the engine’s “steady state” coolant temperatures by using a lower temp rated thermostat, and/or adding additional heat transfer surface area with a third radiator; both of which are far more capable in altering the coolant’s heat transfer capability, do not quickly break down with use, and do not need to be replaced regularly. There have also been posting on VW and Audi related websites noting that the RL product has demonstrated some pretty adverse reactions with the G12 coolant they use, which is chemically similar to Porsche’s OEM coolant.
In the end, it is your car, and you can do anything you want with it; but in the case of the how useful this additive is, used in conjunction with an overly diluted coolant mix in a street application, let us just agree that we completely disagree...............