For a large portion of the U.S., and around the world, the time for snow, slush, and ice is here. And that means drivers will line car washes ready to whisk away the muck, salt, and other debris. Nissan knows this and the brand employs the cutest little car wash you've ever seen to ensure car washes are no match for paint quality.
That's right, it's not just for fun. The popcorn machine-sized car wash at the Nissan Technical Center North America in Michigan tests paint and clear coat quality to ensure a durable and lasting shimmer. The machine makes it easy to test paint samples before the hue finds its way to a life-sized Nissan. Engineers have gone to great lengths to ensure the mini car wash actually mimics the real thing. The blue bristles spin at 180 RPM to slap the paint in the same rough manner an automatic car wash will. At the same time, water jets pound the paint with force and Arizona dirt replicates the grit and abrasives that cake cars in the real world.
To show everyone how the process unfolds, Nissan ran a 1:18 scale model 370Z through the teeny-tiny car wash to show the machine's effects. Normally, Nissan simply subjects a rectangular paint sample to the wash to get the same effect, but this certainly makes us crave our own to clean up collections of modeled cars.
So, the next time you subject your Nissan to an automatic car wash, know the exterior paint has been there and done that. This isn't Nissan's first rodeo.