The core shell or grill as most know it doesn't flex or twist. It is a series of formed radius curves front and back in sheetmetal that are spot welded together and it is done that way to protect the radiator. If you want to understand this, go out and look at an OEM radiator. You will find that the mounting flanges are held to the radiator core with two small nuts and bolts and the nuts top and bottom that are in slots molded into the plastic end cap. Once you fully recognize the size of the small bolts and how small the slots are, it doesn't take much to figure out if the core shell flexed, it would rip the mounts right off the end caps.
Yeah, we can't have anything good made out of plastic like airplanes, race cars, pistols, or Stealth Fighters.
I'm not gonna fault the radiator engineers too much over a small issue that also blew up a Space Shuttle. The rubber o-ring loses some resilience over time and shrinks when it gets cold. That allows a very small bit of coolant to weep into the crimp area and stops as soon as the radiator warms up. It is an annoyance but I've seen them go for years like that without ever failing catastrophically.
I wish that was true about whatever radiator he buys will be fine. The "argument" is really a discussion. So many guys on threads get a radiator and it is garbage and they can't return it. Which honestly sucks for the person who needs a radiator and finds out the one they payed $300 for is garbage. It's easy to get caught up in "aftermarket is better than OEM" most aftermarket radiators have been found to last less than a year or two and cost more than OEM that lasts a decade. This is what I've read on 20+ forum threads before buying an OEM. I too wanted an aftermarket but was "saved" thanks to the argument. Once again, glad it works for you and clearly not all aftermarket ones are garbage. But do understand the hesitation/dislike towards any aftermarket radiators.
I agree there is a lot of garbage out there and I would not have bought this radiator had it not been recommended by the radiator repairman. Who has no inventory and all he does is repair and has been doing it a long long time. He's an older gentleman that works out of his garage and said it was not worth repairing and recommended buying another OEM radiator but warned me the same problem will happen again. When customers come in looking for something better than OEM this is the company he's been recommending and he has had no issues no returns.
Unfortunately the tanks are not necessary for cooling as all the heat extraction and dissipation is done by the tubes and fins so whether or not a tank dissipates heat is a moot point.
There is only one giant glaring flaw in your logic. The Jeep engineers designed the TJ to work worldwide even in the UAE and similarly hot places. If you care to do the research and dig around, there is not an export cooling system package that is different than the ones they use on all the TJ models in a specific year. I work on a lot of TJ's. I work on a lot of TJ cooling systems. I live where it is hot for a large part of the year. In fact, they are predicting triple digit temps for next Friday. We absolutely need our cooling systems to work and there isn't a single one I haven't fixed to do anything the owner needs it to do with anything other than strictly OEM parts.
