There’s nothing like a perfectly clean car to put a smile on your face, and Nissan is trying to help make that happen with new paint technology designed to repel dirt and all the other stuff that gets on your car.
The first application of this specially engineered super-hydrophobic and oleophobic paint has been to the all-new European market Nissan Note. They’ll be testing the paint on this Note at the Nissan Technical Centre Europe to see how it fares in different types of weather conditions, but they brought out the tech for demo at their recent full-line drive in Nashville, Tennessee.
The technology is called Ultra-Ever Dry and this is the first time that its been used on automotive bodywork. It works by creating a layer of air between the paint and the environment that stops standing water and road spray from staying on the paint. Basically, there are little bumps all over the finish, giving it a matte finish that feels like suede and repels dirt.
This demo shows just how well the paint works, keeping the paint clean despite water, mud, dirt, and chocolate syrup. Sure, syrup might not come flying out of the sky, but if you have kids, that might be the most interesting part of the whole demo! Also, the fact that this could be applied to other surfaces, including interior fabrics, which would be a huge selling point for those with kids.
So far, the paint has performed well against rain, spray, frost, sleet and standing water. Although they are testing this all out on a Nissan Note, there are no plans just yet make it standard on any Nissan car or truck. The coating could possibly be offered as an aftermarket option, but we’ll all just have to wait and see.
Watch this demo of the paint in action.
And here’s video of the Nissan Note taking on a muddy test track.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole is a member of the New England Motor Press Association and also writes for Automotive IT News, NerdApproved, and GeekMom. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+
