14 DAY TRIAL // The scratches of a car could soon be repaired with no stress, as Japanese researchers came up with a colorless car body paint that heals scratches by itself.
Every driver in the world dreads off-road encounters with thorny bushes, children's playing with sharp things close to their cars or overzealous car washing devices, all of which could damage the sensitive paint on the surface of the vehicle. But Nissan's brand new Scratch Guard Coat comes to save the day for the heart-broken drivers, as it repairs itself on top of the scratch in a matter of hours. It can even withstand coin attacks, though the healing process might take a week in such cases. "Of course, you could speed the whole process up by pouring some warm water over the affected area – that would probably repair it in a matter of minutes," says a Nissan spokesman.
The new self-repairing idea is a result of the car makers' failures to come up with a successful protective coating, based on discovering tougher paint grades. In collaboration with Nippon Paint, Nissan decided to follow a different, rather complementary approach. The translucent, synthetic resin has a high density, which allows it to slowly refill the damaged portions in time, as long as they're paint-deep. So far, it's only been designed to cover dark-colored cars, but the developers are confident that it can be applied to lighter tones as well.
The paint is soon to "hit the roads," as a useful optional topping for Japanese Nissan X-Trail SUV cars, costing only 52.500 yen (£251 / $467 / 317 Euros) over the standard price of the vehicle. The manufacturers claim its effects last for approximately three years. Since Nissan is in corporate partnership with Renault in France, the imminent success of the paint is bound to be teleported to Europe as well.