Nissan uses a miniature car wash to test its paint’s durability



Nissan’s Technical Centre in Michigan, USA uses a miniature car wash, no bigger than the size of a popcorn machine to allow engineers to test paint samples to make sure its car’s exterior paint can endure the harsh environment of automatic car washes.

The specialised machine, with spinning brushes that has vibrant blue bristles, will help ensure that the paint stays pristine even with frequent automatic car washes.

To replicate the actual environment, the brushes in the miniature car wash  spins at 180 rpm causing the bristles to slap harshly on the paint’s surface. Water jet sprays and “Arizona dirt” are also thrown into the mix to replicate real-world conditions.

The 1:16 scale model of the 370z shown in the video is only for illustrative purposes as in actual testing, Nissan paint is applied to rectangular plates for the miniature car wash tests.