Project Farm Torture Tests Coolants and Coolant Additives

Todd and his elves at Project Farm have dragooned a new subject for interrogation and torture tests. This time it’s coolant additives and “super coolants,” all of which make a range of claims about how much cooler they can get your car running and how much heat they can take. The perp walk goes: Rislone Hy-per Cool ($8/16 ounces), DEI Radiator Relief ($15/16 ounces), VP Racing Cool Down ($16/16 ounces), Royal Purple Purple Ice ($16/12 ounces), Engine Ice ($26/half gallon), VP Stay Frosty Race-Ready Coolant ($28/half gallon), Mishimoto Liquid Chill ($55/gallon), Red Line SuperCool ($46/gallon), and Evans High Performance Waterless Engine Coolant ($55/gallon).

The Rislone, DEI Radiator Relief, VP Racing Cool Down, and Royal Purple Purple Ice are coolant additives. The most basic Peak antifreeze stands in as the baseline coolant, a 50/50 prediluted formulation said to be good for all vehicles. Todd tests the Peak alone for initial pH, reserve alkalinity after mixing in a drop of sulfuric acid, boiling point, crystallization point, heat exchange performance, and lubricity, then runs a sample of Peak fortified with each additive through the same battery.

The remaining contestants are stand-alone coolants that don’t get added to Peak, they’re put through all the suite of tests on their own. The last bit of small print concerns VP Stay Frosty Race-Ready, which is formulated specifically for race cars. Dragstrips often prohibit cars using antifreeze or cars without sealed cooling systems because antifreeze contains elements that are difficult to fully remove from the track surface, leaving a slick residue that isn’t friendly to dragsters. Some strips even ban Evans for containing such elements despite Evans being a participant in the NHRA’s contingency program. The company posts an official letter from the NHRA on its site so that drivers using Evans are cleared to compete at NHRA-sanctioned events.

Back at Project Farm, the results contain several surprises, as usual. Overall, though, the takeaway from this comparo is: Spend the money on the good stuff.

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