The end may be in sight for the humble bucket and sponge. That’s right, Nissan may have spelled the end of the car wash. The Japanese firm have announced a new paint coating which repels dirt and grime. The coating has been named ‘ultra-ever dry’ and it’s predicted to be available initially as a £450 paint option on the new Nissan Note.

How Does It Work?

The superhydrophobic paint is both oleophobic and hydrophobic, repelling both oil and water. This means that any dirt, grime or water rolls off the paint work instead of sticking. The clever technology works by creating tiny pockets of air between the paint and any contaminants. This is achieved by the paintwork actually being rough on a microscopic level, meaning that liquids bead off the car instead of sticking. Don’t worry, though – ‘rough’ doesn’t mean your next Nissan will look like a sheet of 200 grit sandpaper – the rougher texture is undetectable to both sight and touch.

Although its application is new, there’s nothing new about hydrophobic and oleophobic technology – in fact, it’s been around for years, with many modern touch screen phones and tablets utilising this technology on their screens to repel dirt, grime and fingerprint marks. It was only a matter of time before this technology was applied on a much larger scale.

The new paintwork has been developed in partnership with Ultra-tech and, therefore, could be seen rolling out across many more manufacturers in the future. The special coating has been applied to the Note and is currently being tested the Nissan UK technical centre in Bedfordshire. A spokesperson for Nissan has said that the coating “responded well to common use cases including rain, spray, frost, sleet and standing water.” Promising news indeed! The new Nissan Note is available from £12,100 for the 1.2 litre 5-door Visia model.

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