How Nissan Is Using A Miniature Car Wash To Make Your Paint Better


Nissan’s process of testing its paint samples might sound unorthodox at first, but there’s a method to the madness.

The company has a scaled-down car wash, about the size and shape of a popcorn machine, at its Technical Center in Michigan to test paint samples in order to make sure that their company’s exterior paint jobs hold up to the demands of a modern automatic car wash.

Featuring a spinning brush with vibrant blue bristles, this specialized piece of test equipment sprays water and spins at 180rpm causing the bristles to harshly slap the paint sample, which also has special dirt called “Arizona test dirt” applied to it to replicate real-world grit.

Don’t think though that Nissan is actually using scale models during testing, as the red miniature of the 370Z is there for illustrative purposes only.

Instead Nissan uses painted rectangular plates in actual testing, like the yellow sample upon which the scale model is sitting.

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