Coolant to water ratio; 50-50-, 60-40, 70-30???

[afeezofasheezo]

so i mixed some coolant and did about 50/50, but i think my cars running a bit hotter now...no, not cool. so whats the word on the street around here, what ratio are you running???

[teutonic_blur]

Originally posted by afeezofasheezo
so i mixed some coolant and did about 50/50, but i think my cars running a bit hotter now...no, not cool. so whats the word on the street around here, what ratio are you running???

50/50.
You didn't use regular coolant, did you?

[CO AVANT]

I'm at about 60/40.

[afeezofasheezo]

i used audi coolant which by the way for some reason costs more than bmw coolant. i think after i had already mixed it the bottle said you can use up to a max of 70/30 in our cars.

[CO AVANT]

true, I use more coolant to water, but you're okay with 50/50.

[quattromadness]

whats the best kind of coolant to use on our cars?...this 105+ degree weather in the SFV is killin' me

[CO AVANT]

I'd just stick with OEM......get a front mount or dual side mount intercooler setup if the heat is robbing your power that much.

[Jeff]

Originally posted by afeezofasheezo
so i mixed some coolant and did about 50/50, but i think my cars running a bit hotter now...no, not cool. so whats the word on the street around here, what ratio are you running???

The primary purpose of Antifreeze/Coolant is to:

1) Lubricate the waterpump and seals.

2) Prevent freezing in cold weather (thus the name).

In CA, you can run as much as 80%+ water, which has a lot better cooling efficiency than coolant. 50/50 is recommended for all climates, including below 0deg temps in the winter so your coolant doesnt freeze up...which you'll never see in CA. I was running 80% when up in Tahoe (it was -11deg iirc) and didn't have a problem.

My coolant temps dropped as much as 5 degrees when warm just by increasing the water concentration.

[Jeff]

Originally posted by quattromadness
whats the best kind of coolant to use on our cars?...this 105+ degree weather in the SFV is killin' me

OEM G12 or equivalent. If you plan on using green coolant, that is also fine, but you must completely DRAIN out your old G12 before filling...the two don't mix very well.

[afeezofasheezo]

oh wow, that f'er on the keyboard is insane, he freakin scares me....haha, so you say your car runs cooler with more water than cooant???a friend told me something about water being denser than coolant and being more cooling efficient, but i just cant grasp why!?!

[Jeff]

Originally posted by afeezofasheezo
oh wow, that f'er on the keyboard is insane, he freakin scares me....haha, so you say your car runs cooler with more water than cooant???a friend told me something about water being denser than coolant and being more cooling efficient, but i just cant grasp why!?!

Water is better because it has lower viscosity and thus makes more surface contact. This also allows it to circulate faster and pull heat away more efficiently.

[afeezofasheezo]

jeff my man, its good to see a real car guy on a forum! good looks on the info!!!