Is there an industry accepted method of testing radiators and how they compare to each other?
The problem with all replacement radiators is that we don't have any real information as to how many BTUs any particular radiator is capable of removing.
Everthing is subjective, without any objective information.
I would spend $500 on a radiator that can be shown to be significantly better than Mopar's HD XJ radiator, PN# Mopar HD XJ radiator 52080104AC, the best of what I have tried.
Got data?
Sorry for the late reply guys, I'm not getting emails for replies or PMs for some reason.
As far as we know, there is no standardized test to compare one radiator to another; and you're right to be leery of claims of "optimized" performance or flow. The efficiency of an automotive radiator is dependent on so many fluid variables that it's nearly impossible to truly "optimize" a radiator. A radiator may be extremely efficient at one flow rate (or RPM, since the pump speed varies with engine speed), with a certain amount of air flowing through the fins; but at another RPM and the same air speed, or vice versa, it becomes inefficient. That's not even considering environmental factors.
What we typically do to develop a radiator is look at the OEM design and the space that it occupies in the vehicle to determine where we have areas to improve. Some improvements are pretty obvious, like if the OEM unit cracks often, but otherwise we look at factors that affect efficiency and durability (core thickness and construction, row height and tube / fin structure). Before we start building a prototype we run efficiency calculations on both the OEM unit and what we plan to build. If the geometry changes are large enough, as they were with this design we can be confident that our radiator will perform better than OEM.
So, long story short, there is no real standard for testing radiator efficiency, yet. Even if there was, there's nothing to say that the rad would perform the same in real world conditions. But what we can do is draw on our experience (of which we have quite a lot by now) and be as thorough as possible in the design and testing that we can do.
Mishimoto,
Looking at your Amazon reviews, there seem to be quite a few complaints about quality issues. Has there been a change to your design/production to remedy these issues?
https://www.amazon.com/Mishimoto-MM...rmance-Radiator/dp/B00GQJCL1A#customerReviews
Of course. We always look at issues as a means to learn and improve our products. That particular Wrangler radiator has presented us with some unique challenges, the biggest of which is narrowing down the direct cause of the failures. To put it in perspective, we've sold over 500 of those radiators when I last checked at the beginning of this year. Only a small percentage of those have been returned under warranty - that's not to say we don't think it's an issue though.
One of the improvements we've made to our design process since the design of that radiator has been our use of high-accuracy 3D scanning. Being able to 3D scan vehicles has allowed us to improve our manufacturing tolerances and make sure that we're not excessively loading one part of the radiator, which may cause failures. We've also brought several failed radiators back to our R&D facility for inspection and have realized the need for stronger tubes on some vehicles. That's why we've included strutted / harmonica tubes on the XJ rad. We still don't have a 100% fix for the Wrangler radiator yet, but as we learn from it, we're applying that learning to our newer products and will continue to do so. Of course, if you ever have an issue with a radiator, or any of our products, you'll be covered under our lifetime warranty. That not only provides you with a replacement, but ensures that the radiator you receive will be the most up-to-date version, with any learning applied.
I hope that's answered your questions, feel free to let me know if you need anything else!
-Steve