Collinite 845 vs Griot's Best of Show Wax

Side by side

The coverage number is the real difference

Collinite publish an average spread of 1,200 to 2,000 square feet for a 16 ounce bottle. That is unusual, and it is useful, because it converts a price into a cost per car. A mid-size sedan is roughly 100 to 120 square feet of painted surface, so a bottle at that spread is a long way past a dozen applications. At $22.99 the per-application cost stops being a meaningful part of the decision.

Griot’s publish neither coverage nor durability for Best of Show. That does not make it a worse wax, but it does mean the only things you can compare before buying are price, size and the claim that it comes off in one pass.

Durability, and what a claim is worth

Collinite’s 4 to 7 months is a manufacturer claim, not a measurement anyone made for us, and the range is wide for a reason: a garaged car in a mild climate and a daily driver parked outside in a northern winter are not the same test. Still, a published range is something to hold a product to. An unpublished one cannot be wrong, which is exactly the problem with it.

Our wax roundup ranks the wider field on that same basis, and Collinite tops it for this reason.

Where Griot's earns its place

Best of Show is sold on the part of waxing people actually dislike: removal. Griot’s claim one effortless pass and describe a heavy carnauba content without putting a percentage to it. If you wax by hand, in a driveway, a few times a year, an easy-off wax is a real benefit rather than a marketing line, and $21.99 for 16 ounces is not a premium price for it.

Collinite’s own guidance is worth knowing here: they say it is applied by hand or machine and spreads best by dual action. A wax that spreads thin is a wax that comes off easily, which is the same benefit arrived at from the other direction.

Who should buy which

• You want a number to hold the maker to: Collinite No. 845, $22.99.
• You wax by hand and hate removal: Griot's Best of Show, $21.99.
• You want the cheapest cost per car: Collinite, on its published spread.
• You want a darker look on black paint: neither publishes a claim, so see the black-car page.

Application and removal, side by side

Both are 16 ounce liquids, and both makers describe a different part of the job. Collinite publish application guidance: by hand or by machine, and they say it spreads best with a dual action. That matters with this wax in particular, because a thick coat is harder to remove than a thin one and the whole complaint people have about durable waxes is removal effort.

Griot’s approach the same problem from the other end and sell the result rather than the method: one effortless pass to remove, with a heavy carnauba content they do not quantify. Neither maker publishes a cure time, so both are bought on the same practical rule: thin coats, and let the wax haze before you buff it off.