Purpose of Soft -->Hard clear coats

Is there any reason or purpose that the clear coats on some cars are soft such as BMW's and that some are hard? Did the manufacturer purposely intend to have soft or hard clear coat, or did it just turn out like that?

 

it depends on the clear they use..there are the really hard clears that are suppose to be scratch resistant

 

The stupid thing is that they are not scratch resistant...The car companies should have thought twice when they called it that...:doh:

 

Take BMW for example: the non-metallic is very soft, whilst the metallic black is on the harder side.

 

Nissans in general usually have pretty soft paint, I just finished a GT-R yesterday that needED polishing/correction work and the cc was super soft, much softer than I had imagined. Made for a PITA day of polishing work!

 

I believe Nissan/Infiniti uses the self correcting clear coat which not only is soft but more sticky if you try applying a polish.

 

:nod: that is very true, I've had my share of experiences with the soft/sticky clear coat that Nissan seems to have...who in the world would create such a thing

Well I'm no expert on clear coats but I sometimes wonder on the logic behind them

 

Here is a link Nissans Scratch Guard if anyone cares to learn more about it...
NISSAN | Scratch Guard Coat

 

Do the car companies, besides the scratch proof finish, actively pick which hardness of clear coat they want?

 

Seems like a neat idea I suppose, but it leaves me with two questions.

1. How does it hold up over time?
2. Does the technology actually work?

A lot of people seem to criticize Honda paint for being really soft, which I suppose it is. I'm coming to see this as a good thing though - it's relatively easy to correct. I attempted some correction on a VW many months ago when I was still using a Porter Cable, and that car really made me wish for soft paint!

 

ya ...i really hate VW paint....PITA...but honda paint is alot easier to induce washing swirls

 

Some EU mfg experimented with 'soft' clear coat that would 'absorb' the impact of a stone chip, having said that I don't know how sucessful they were with it though.