When it comes to cars, heat is the enemy. It robs power, destroys parts, and can make for quite the sweaty, uncomfortable drive. Don't ask.
In the realm of engines, heat is both a byproduct and a hindrance to making horsepower. Turbochargers compress intake air in order to better fill an engine, simultaneously heating the air as well. Exhaust ports, firing on pure hellfire, also generate significant underhood heat, captured within exhaust pipes and manifolds.
All of this latent heat seeks to raise the temperature of intake air, which needs to remain as cool as possible to generate power. The captured engine heat also has a tendency to spread its effects, melting nearby wires, downpipe-adjacent body panels, and causing the firewall or foot panel area to become unbearably hot.
Enthusiasts often go to extreme measures to withstand the heat, especially during extended track or racing outings. Some users employ massively heavy intercoolers, ground-scraping cold air intakes that snake out of the engine bay, and double thick socks that keep burned toes at bay.
One of the solutions from Design Engineering, Inc. Similar to the gold thermal tape used in aerospace and the racing industry, Reflect-A-GOLD is a self-adhesive golden tape that DEI claims can reflect up to 80% of radiant heat and can handle continuous operating temperatures of 850-degrees F, with the adhesive side rated up to 325-degrees F.
The Reflect-A-GOLD tape has many potential uses in the performance car market. By wrapping an air intake box or tube, the intake air can be shielded from heat. Firewalls or rear decks can also be covered in it, keeping engine bay heat from entering the cabin. The tape can even be applied to certain sheet metal heat shields, increasing their effectiveness.
As opposed to more expensive wraps, blankets, or sprays, the gold tape is easy to apply (peel and stick), very thin for clearance, and lightweight. We've always liked its simple nature and you've no doubt seen golden thermal tape applied to the firewalls and airboxes of numerous racecars. But how well does it work?
PARTS TESTING
Our testing idea is deceptively simple torture blast the Reflect-A-GOLD tape and see how it holds up. Using the blue flame of our torch, rated at 3000-degrees F, we'll be testing to see the effective temperature reduction and reflection of the Reflect-A-GOLD tape.
Unless your car is on fire and melting to the ground (at which you'd have bigger things to worry about Ed.), it's unlikely to see any temperatures near 3000-degrees F. But using this high of a temperature, far beyond the rated capacity of the tape, will allow us to display the behavior of the product under incredible stress.
In order to keep our results consistent, all of our testing was done with the same ambient air temperature and sensor. Our sensor was tied into place on a vice and the distance to the torch kept constant between our two tests.
RESULTS
Our first test consisted of the 3000-degree torch flame being applied directly to a steel plate, which itself was in direct contact with the temperature sensor. Our initial temperature reading was at 83-degrees F. After a 20-second burn cycle, our sensor was reading a temperature of 205-degrees F.
For the next test, the same steel plate was covered in Reflect-A-GOLD tape on one side. After waiting for the temperature sensor to normalize back to 83-degrees F, we completed another 20-second burn cycle at the same distance. Our new ending temperature was now 95-degrees F. That's a 54% reduction in heat.
Pushed almost ten times past its rated fire resistant heat capacity, the Reflect-A-GOLD tape charred and burned on its outer layer, as expected.
Still, the tape managed to pull off a 110-degree reduction in temperature and resisted the fire with its inner secondary layer. These are impressive results, especially for a roll that is as easy to put on as masking tape.
The Reflect-A-GOLD tape isn't what we would consider super cheap, a 1'x1' piece runs around $20 but it's perfect for thermal situations that require low clearance, odd shaping, or just a small shield (around a exhaust pipe, for instance). As a tip, the Reflect-A-GOLD tape rolls, 2"x15' for around $40, are much better bargains for covering intake tubes and airboxes.
