Are 2020 Civic Type R's Still Overheating on track?

[Zeffy94]

It’s on the smaller size so it heats up quickly. A larger one will still eventually heat soak, but since they’re heavier, it’ll take longer for that to happen.

Lame. Maybe I'll have to look into the PRL Intercooler then. With COVID causing me to not have to use the CTR as a daily, I pretty much only use it for spirited driving now. If it's heat soaking during that it dampens the joy!

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[Lust]

Lame. Maybe I'll have to look into the PRL Intercooler then. With COVID causing me to not have to use the CTR as a daily, I pretty much only use it for spirited driving now. If it's heat soaking during that it dampens the joy!

If you plan to track the car I would recommend against the PRL and going with a PWR, HKS, or GReddy IC because they’re tube and fin. They’re able to dissipate heat faster and they flow more air through to the radiator. Once the PRL gets heat soaked you’re pretty much toast. The advantage though is that it can be harder to get heat soaked on the street

 

[tinyman392]

If you plan to track the car I would recommend against the PRL and going with a PWR, HKS, or GReddy IC because they’re tube and fin. They’re able to dissipate heat faster and they flow more air through to the radiator. Once the PRL gets heat soaked you’re pretty much toast. The advantage though is that it can be harder to get heat soaked on the street

Basically this. The nice thing about the tube and fin is that although they can heat soak quickly, they can undo and cool down quickly too. But it requires a constant air stream going over it to do the job which isn’t always possible with a DD.

The bar and plate will eventually heat soak, and once it does, it’s stop time (like literally to let it cool). So it’s not really recommended for track. But it may do a better job for DD work since it’ll take considerably longer to heat soak. But again, once heat soaked, it’s heat soaked :/

 

[Zeffy94]

If you plan to track the car I would recommend against the PRL and going with a PWR, HKS, or GReddy IC because they’re tube and fin. They’re able to dissipate heat faster and they flow more air through to the radiator. Once the PRL gets heat soaked you’re pretty much toast. The advantage though is that it can be harder to get heat soaked on the street

Basically this. The nice thing about the tube and fin is that although they can heat soak quickly, they can undo and cool down quickly too. But it requires a constant air stream going over it to do the job which isn’t always possible with a DD.

The bar and plate will eventually heat soak, and once it does, it’s stop time (like literally to let it cool). So it’s not really recommended for track. But it may do a better job for DD work since it’ll take considerably longer to heat soak. But again, once heat soaked, it’s heat soaked :/

If you're not planning on tracking the car, is an intercooler going to help at all as a daily driver? It wasn't all that hot today (83-85F) but gross humidity made my car feel slower than usual.

 

[tinyman392]

If you're not planning on tracking the car, is an intercooler going to help at all as a daily driver? It wasn't all that hot today (83-85F) but gross humidity made my car feel slower than usual.

If you're not tracking the car, I'd honestly push towards a bar and plate design. It'll help delay the inevitable. If a design is able to delay the inevitable for longer than you're driving, it'll be effective If it's not, then you'll still be able to have fun for longer.

Basically, in short, a tube and fin design is quick to soak, but also quick to cool. A bar and plate design is slow to soak, but also slow to cool; the bigger/heavier the intercooler the more thermal capacity it has, which means it'll take longer to soak, but also means it'll take longer to cool.

 

[Lust]

I still find my HKS to be adequate on street even in 90F+ temps. I’m usually seeing charge temps of around 10-20F above ambient. Another thing to pay attention to is the flow and pressure. IAT is important but not the entire equation.

 

[ayau]

There’s a good reason the Type R TC retains the OEM intercooler since throwing on a random radiator may make the situation worse during track situations. This was pointed out by a Honda engineer that did testing on the Type R TC.

 

[Gansan]

Going back to the overheating thing, if anyone with a 2020 reads this, it would be of great help if you went to the track purely stock and reported on your results in some detail. You should include your skill level, the ambient temperature, and how long you are able to push your car until the needle starts moving up. Also, it would be good to know if the needle stops going up after some point or if it keeps rising. If you have data logging, then you get +100 bonus points.

We need some better info than “it doesn’t work.”

 

[ayau]

Going back to the overheating thing, if anyone with a 2020 reads this, it would be of great help if you went to the track purely stock and reported on your results in some detail. You should include your skill level, the ambient temperature, and how long you are able to push your car until the needle starts moving up. Also, it would be good to know if the needle stops going up after some point or if it keeps rising. If you have data logging, then you get +100 bonus points.

We need some better info than “it doesn’t work.”

that would be ideal but it’s probably just wishful thinking.

Based on what I’ve read so far, seems like cool day on a factory car won’t move the needle. So something like 70F or cooler.

 

[Waynegro372]

Its hard to believe that after this much anticipated car finally arrived in North America and has been out for 3+ years w/ a design update to address this very problem that no one has apparently solved the track overheating problem on the CTRs. Is this a failure of the aftermarket or is this a massive design flaw on Honda’s behalf?

 

[ayau]

Its hard to believe that after this much anticipated car finally arrived in North America and has been out for 3+ years w/ a design update to address this very problem that no one has apparently solved the track overheating problem on the CTRs. Is this a failure of the aftermarket or is this a massive design flaw on Honda’s behalf?

It's probably somewhat of a design flaw that requires a lot of money to fix. The real fix may make the car not comfortable to drive in the streets.

This really only affects a very small number of owners. Honda isn't gonna spend the money to fix an issue that doesn't affect majority of the owners. This is just the reality of a production street car. This isn't a real hardcore track car as much as Honda would like to market it to be. As far as Honda is concerned, this car is still selling for sticker price or above. How many manufacturers have a car like that?

 

[ApexEight]

The 2020 cooling mods aren't really anything new - their aftermarket equivalents have been tested for years and still don't prevent overheating. The eBay grilles flow more than the 2020 grille and the Koyorad has greater capacity with comparable fin density as the 2020 radiator. The 2020 upgrades do not solve overheating when pushing hard on hot track days (80F+). They can help increase the time before you overheat and decrease the time it'll take to cool down, but it won't eliminate the issue entirely.

 

[Waynegro372]

It's probably somewhat of a design flaw that requires a lot of money to fix. The real fix may make the car not comfortable to drive in the streets.

This really only affects a very small number of owners. Honda isn't gonna spend the money to fix an issue that doesn't affect majority of the owners. This is just the reality of a production street car. This isn't a real hardcore track car as much as Honda would like to market it to be. As far as Honda is concerned, this car is still selling for sticker price or above. How many manufacturers have a car like that?

I agree, at this point it’s gotta be a design flaw. I’ve followed several ‘Cooling issue’ related threads and there are guys who have thrown thousands at new radiator/IC/insert cooling mod and are still overheating on warm days at the track.

It would be one thing if this was happening on a si model, but on the CTR that is so disappointing. The huge market push to the enthusiasts was the Nurburgring time. So the CTR is as close of a track car as Honda has ever brought to NA.

I’m really close to buying a 2020 but the persisting issue makes me hesitate. Especially when it seems there is some mounting evidence that even the aftermarket has not solved the problems yet.

 

[Lust]

Going back to the overheating thing, if anyone with a 2020 reads this, it would be of great help if you went to the track purely stock and reported on your results in some detail. You should include your skill level, the ambient temperature, and how long you are able to push your car until the needle starts moving up. Also, it would be good to know if the needle stops going up after some point or if it keeps rising. If you have data logging, then you get +100 bonus points.

We need some better info than “it doesn’t work.”

If there was any significant improvement with the 2020 grill and radiator, I would have said so. There wasn’t much to say at all about the upgrades other than it simply doesn’t work.

 

[SSchmed]

Going back to the overheating thing, if anyone with a 2020 reads this, it would be of great help if you went to the track purely stock and reported on your results in some detail. You should include your skill level, the ambient temperature, and how long you are able to push your car until the needle starts moving up. Also, it would be good to know if the needle stops going up after some point or if it keeps rising. If you have data logging, then you get +100 bonus points.

We need some better info than “it doesn’t work.”

I hope to get in a track day later in the summer. Covid has put a big damper on track days. I think running on a warm/hot day here in Colorado would be a good test of 2020 cooling abilities, as the lower density air at our altitude makes cooling a challenge.

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