'self-healing' plastic that smooths away car scratches and polishes scuffed shoes

[Shadeyman]

Scratched cars and scuffed shoes could soon be no more than a bad memory.
Scientists have created a ‘self-healing’ plastic coating that smooths away marks and blemishes with seconds.
What is more, it doesn’t seem to matter how many times an area is damaged – it can be tricked into repairing itself time and time again.
This would make the ‘metallo-supramolecular polymer’a boon for motorists who have trouble parking, as well as for women who find they inevitably new shoes within hours of putting them on.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...hes-polishes-scuffed-shoes.html#ixzz1K9VDQonb

http://www.popsci.com/science/artic...-polymer-fixes-itself-under-ultraviolet-light

 

[DaveMcT]

She'll need a bit more than that to cover her Beemer (oops Ford).

Look like a paint on version of Invisible Film (tm).

 

[jip0]

i bet it will be super expensive so people will still use body shops and if its not then they have just killed a trade of pretty much

 

[DaveMcT]

Invisible film isnt cheap but it will protect from scratches and stone chips. Its popular on phones, laptops & bikes but not really caught on in UK for cars.

 

[maddogmorg]

Why not just learn to park?

 

[DaveMcT]

Its the other muppets to worry about.

 

[cushioncreeper]

Some years ago Tomorrow's world showed a car which had high impact plastic / rubber body panels. The presenter was belting it with a sledgehammer & it didn't leave a scratch. I think the panels were also made from recycled tyres (amongst other things)

 

[maddogmorg]

Some years ago Tomorrow's world showed a car which had high impact plastic / rubber body panels. The presenter was belting it with a sledgehammer & it didn't leave a scratch. I think the panels were also made from recycled tyres (amongst other things)

in the USA cars used to have to be able to have an impact at 5mph without any damage. It's the reason certain cars such as FIAT x1/9 ended up with massive ungainly bumpers.

 

[m20b25]

Wasnt there similar stuff about for years on a tape that filled in scratches? Ie you put the tape over the scratch, pull it away and it got filled in?

 

[DaveMcT]

in the USA cars used to have to be able to have an impact at 5mph without any damage. It's the reason certain cars such as FIAT x1/9 ended up with massive ungainly bumpers.

The old MGB, MG Midget and Triumph Spitfires were also equally blighted.

The good thing about the x1/9 was many of its parts were used in the Lancia Stratos and are still available if you want to build one.

 

[DaveMcT]

Wasnt there similar stuff about for years on a tape that filled in scratches? Ie you put the tape over the scratch, pull it away and it got filled in?

I put some Zagg invisible film on an Iphone 3g. A week later someone plonked it down on a lump of grit. The film was dinged but after a few days the dent had almost gone. When I sold the phone 2 years later it didnt have a single scratch on it.

 

[StevenRB45]

So futuristic its already been fitted as standard to lexus LS models since 2010...

 

[sludgeguts]

Wasnt there similar stuff about for years on a tape that filled in scratches? Ie you put the tape over the scratch, pull it away and it got filled in?

I seem to remember something along thosed lines - put tape on scratch, rub it with your thumbnail & gently lift the tape.