Anyone who loves their car knows that automatic car washes suck. The spinning nylon brushes beat on your paintwork and whip the dirt around, leaving awful swirl marks.
A car fan wouldn’t take their pride and joy within 100 feet of one of these things. But not everyone is so picky, and millions of us take the convenience of five minutes in a machine over a couple of hours with buckets, microfiber cloths and hosepipes. Not to mention staying dry.
That’s why Nissan came up with this, the smallest car wash we’ve ever seen. It’s located at the Nissan Technical Center North America, in Michigan, and the brand uses it to test the durability of its paint finishes
Rather than spending time and money on washing full-size cars, Nissan puts painted test panels through the car wash. While water jets keep everything doused, the bristles spin up against the plates at 180rpm, simulating a full-size car wash experience.
But what about the road grime? Well, Nissan pours beakers full of “Arizona dirt”, a highly abrasive mixture of sands, over the test plates too. When combined with the spinning brush it’s sure to put the paint to the sternest of tests.
This all goes to ensure that even if your Nissan’s previous owners didn’t mind using an automatic car wash, you won’t suffer the paint damage later in its life.
It’s just a pity that Nissan doesn’t actually use 1:18 scale models in the real thing:
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