Painting something white so it won't radiate is useless -- all paint is black in the infrared. Do some experiments with a heat lamp and you will see. Painting something a light color so it will stay cool in the (visible light) sun is an entirely different matter. If we could see in the infrared, the world would be a very different-looking place. One of the more interesting features is that all humans are black in infrared light!

As to adding insulation to keep heat out of the intake manifold, I think that's a great idea. However, if it's so great, why hasn't Mercedes already done it? Is the benefit so small as to be not worth the effort? Will this cause an overheating problem in the exhaust system? It's worth investigating -- but not on my car.

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970