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Comment by mkhpalm | Hacker News Reader

It will be interesting to see how the paint for this holds up. One thing you'll notice is as companies try to switch from oil to water based paints the bases just don't last. There is also this trend to find ways to put less coats of base and clear down for cost savings. That obviously doesn't last as long either. So whatever they need to run this through the head I have to question if people will be happy with it over time compared to something simple like a sticker.

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Many, many Mercedes from the late 90s and early 2000s were sent to an early grave from their absolutely disastrous water-based paint, done in the name of being environmentally friendly. (Mine was one of them after several also not eco-friendly trips to the body shop along the way.)

It’s not particularly environmentally friendly to have to make 10 million extra cars to replace those which rusted out prematurely.

That was also the era of Mercedes-Benz using biodegradable insulation on their wiring harnesses and it resulted in all sorts of cars having to be scrapped long before they broke down mechanically.

Was it because pests chewed on the insulation, or did it actually break down?

Afaik insulation bio-degraded on cars in use resulting in shorts.

IIUC like actually biodegraded. Same happened with biodegradable ID cards.

Fires, too!

I'm guessing the harness of the paint was the issue - virtually all of them would start to rust from the beltline door trim, presumably because the trim itself managed to wear through the paint.

Any resident Germans may feel free to correct me, but it's my understanding that, in Germany, any rust at all on a vehicle will disqualify the vehicle during annual safety inspection. This is why German cars are typically known for having the longest last paint jobs.

As far as I know all paint used, at least most not sure about maritime and other special applications, in the EU is water based for over a decade now.

You can still buy oil based paint in the shops though.

And those aren't used for industrial applications. So car paint, at OEMs and professional shops, is all water based since REACH.

Maybe for car paint that is correct. I am more into wood work and it is readily available at the regular paint store.

  > It will be interesting to see how the paint for this
  > holds up. One thing you'll notice is as companies try to
  > switch from oil to water based paints the bases just don't last.

The process described in the fine article is for painting e.g. stripes, logos, and other traditional "decals". It is not for painting the chassis, unibody, underbody, or even the finish on most of the exterior. That is all still done by traditional methods.

Its also used for whole roof with two-tone cars, where roof is different color than the rest of the body. You save masking process and whole another run trough paint process.

The current water based paints BMW uses are terrible for impact resistance/rock chips (compare the front bumpers of pre-2012/2013 to cars manufactured after that era) but generally very good for UV stability and being able to correct defects/swirls.

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