Bent A/C condensor fins - does it matter?

[Spike00513]

The A/C condenser is light grey and in the front. The radiator is behind it.

Over the years, my condenser has made friends with many bees, dragonflies, and rocks, which dent the fins and impede airflow. Does it matter?





Harbor Freight sells a radiator fin straightener tool. I think I'll pick one up and give it a try.



Supposedly, enough bent fins can dramatically reduce the parts ability to shed heat. IDK how A/C's work, but I wonder if this has anything to do with my A/C not blowing as cold as it used to. Or is it that American and Japanese cars are simply better at A/C systems than German..

[fast377]

Yes and no. The more bent fins you have, the less area you have for heat transfer. Meaning you won't be able to remove as much heat from the refrigerant. Which means warm AC. BUT, if you only have a few that are bent, like in your pics, you will never feel any difference.

[diagnosticator]

The condenser is sized with the possible loss of some airflow taken into consideration during the system design process.

[diagnosticator]

The heat exchangers shown in the last two picts, the fins cannot be straightend, unless you want to spend many hours with a pointed tool restoring the fin pattern. Anyone who did this despite the fact that it would not improve system performance, should see a psychiatrist.

[NathanGrayW]

I have one of those "Fin straighteners" from Harbor Freight.. I couldn't get it to work. They were all -slightly- the wrong size.

[jubei4769]

Why do you use pictures of cars that aren't yours? The longer the post doesn't make you look smarter. Have you ever thought about just recharging your ac system. The car is close to 10-12 yrs old.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NathanGrayW]

Why do you use pictures of cars that aren't yours? The longer the post doesn't make you look smarter. Have you ever thought about just recharging your ac system. The car is close to 10-12 yrs old.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's like 10x easier to just google "B6 a4 Radiator," than it would be to go out, pop the hood and take a picture.

[blitz2190]

The heat exchangers shown in the last two picts, the fins cannot be straightend, unless you want to spend many hours with a pointed tool restoring the fin pattern. Anyone who did this despite the fact that it would not improve system performance, should see a psychiatrist.

not to mention the second one has a hole in in the actual condensor so good luck with that cooling anything.

[jubei4769]

It's like 10x easier to just google "B6 a4 Radiator," than it would be to go out, pop the hood and take a picture.

While that is true I don't a pic of the ac condenser. Especially since he has a 3.slow.

His threads are annoying as all ----s. Asks a question then proceeds to answer it using pics he found during his Google search. Then feels enlightened to bore us to death with his results.

Like I said why don't you try recharging the system first. 15 bucks and 2 minutes time, why would you want to pull the front end apart then pic out the fins.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Spike00513]

While that is true I don't a pic of the ac condenser. Especially since he has a 3.slow.

His threads are annoying as all ----s. Asks a question then proceeds to answer it using pics he found during his Google search. Then feels enlightened to bore us to death with his results.

Like I said why don't you try recharging the system first. 15 bucks and 2 minutes time, why would you want to pull the front end apart then pic out the fins.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(I will check out the A/C recharge, thanks for the tip)