Nissan's cutting edge dirt-resistant paint could render car washing obsolete

Shawn Knight

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For car enthusiasts, washing your vehicle can be an enjoyable and rewarding task. But even those with the best of intentions can often come up short as factors like excessively hot or cold weather, time constraints or simply lacking access to a hose will ensure your ride remains dirty.

Plus, your car is inevitably going to get filthy again even after the best wash job. That may not always be the case, however, if Nissan has anything to say about it. The automaker recently showed off a new super-hydrophobic and oleophobic paint called Ultra-Ever Dry that aims to repel water, dirt and even oil.

Similar in theory to how Scotchgard protects upholstery, the technology creates a protective layer of air between the paint and the elements. And as you can see in the promotional video above, it actually does a really good job. It’s not perfect but it’s certainly better than not washing your car at all.

The company said it performed well against rain, spray, frost, sleet and standing water as part of their internal testing. Nissan plans to expand on those tests in Europe in the coming months to expose it to additional conditions that the average driver might encounter.

While there aren’t any plans to make the paint a standard feature, Nissan didn’t rule out the possibility of adding the paint as a potential add-on for interested buyers. No word yet on how the coating might cost, however.

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Very cool. Interesting to see if this really pans out and the paint retains it's "anti-dirt" properties after a few years.
 
Very cool. Interesting to see if this really pans out and the paint retains it's "anti-dirt" properties after a few years.

Agreed. Weather can do a number on anything, along with the general daily activies of someone. I'm curious how long it would last, since they didn't list details about anything of the sort. If they tested it aside from this, and to what lengths did they go to?
 
But what about splattered bugs and bird poop, the number one and two killers of paint jobs?
 
Awesome! If nothing will stick, I guess there is no point waxing it either. I hope this will become widely available across various makes soon.
 
You can buy an after market paint protection which means that you can 'dry wash' your car (normal road use) for about a year. What happens with paint especially on motor cars is that it fades from the top down, leaving any number of shades of the original colour depending on the angle of viewing. To match this colour fade takes a professional years to master, so, I see lots of fancy high priced cars with dodgy paint jobs that no one knows how to fix ;)
 
Where is the sonic non-wiper system for the windshield that Renault was working on? Take that tech and this paint tech then you would have something of interest. No need to buy wiper blades ever again. Of course that would put a lot of wiper blades companies out of business. Now they have no washing your car paint that would put a lot of private car washes out of business and those that sell car wash cleaners like the famous Turtle Wax for one.

What they need to focus on is getting the mileage backup in these cars like they did back in the 80's. Since we are forced to use gasoline still. Hybrid battery and gas cars are too few and cost to much to maintain.
 
As the owner of a car wash, I have one thing to say "FAT CHANCE!". Mother Nature has an infinite source of materials to stick on your car- white limestone base dust, fat and protein bug juices, wide range of petroleum distillates, corrosive high nitrate avian fecal matter, and of coarse - the stickiest known substance in the car wash biz - the purple berry tree droppings!
 
"As the owner of a car wash, I have one thing to say "FAT CHANCE!". Mother Nature has an infinite source of materials to stick on your car- white limestone base dust, fat and protein bug juices, wide range of petroleum distillates, corrosive high nitrate avian fecal matter, and of coarse - the stickiest known substance in the car wash biz - the purple berry tree droppings!"

no matter what, car wash is indispensable thing.. unless we possess some alien-technology that would make our car's body panels are guaranteed 120% dirtproof
 
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