I have a question. How does an engine or radiator know what color the paint is? (Maybe the same way a thermos knows when to keep something hot vs cold. It just knows.) I can understand that it may react differently painted vs not painted, but color? When the hood is down its dark and everything is black. I would guess that the reason the factory painted these parts at all is corrosion resistance (engine covers) and long term, consistent appearance (radiator). As far as the VW situation, maybe the chrome has adverse insulation properties, or they did more to the stock engine than adding bling. Is bling a word? My spell check rejected it!
