has anyone tried any off the shelf product (lacquer thinner, etc.)
to replace Langka as a blob eliminator to offset the price of $20/2oz.

 

I have used only GM touch up paint in the past in both spray can, and touch-up brush. They're in my opinion a lot closer in matching the color of your paint, than anything you can buy elsewhere.
There also places than can prep a quart of paint for you if you want to use a small spray gun like the ones sold at hobby stores that comes with a small bottle for small jobs.
Goose

 

I agree with Goose. Fichtner and Fred Beans sell them at discount too.

Touchup 123 is another option that works well if you have a lot of chips in an area. Here in the Northeast, if you get blasted with one sand truck, you can freckle the front easily (not that you'd drive the Corvette in the snow just siting an example because its not as cheap as touch up paint). A few minutes with a product that applies like wax and the chips disappear to the eye from a few feet away.

www.touchup123.com

 

Vetfvr had a pretty good write up on this thread.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ght=turpentine Post #13

Here's Vetfvr's original post

To fix your paint ships, you will need a can of Turpentine, some touchup paint matching the color of your car, a toothpick, and cotton cloth.

1. Remove the cap on the can of Turpentine and put the cotton cloth over your finger and then put your finger over the opening and turn the can upside down. This will give you a dimes worth of Turpentine to work with.
2. The Turpentine on the cotton cloth is just enough to remove the wax around and in the chip.
3. Shake the touchup paint well and open the cap and take out the little brush.
4. Put a small chip sized drop on the end of your toothpick and tap it into the chip.

What you are looking for here is a bubble of paint in the chip. If you get some on your paint, don’t worry about it right now. After drying for 15 minutes the paint will shrink into the chip.

5. Repeat #1 before lightly in a fast motion back and forth begin to remove the paint that got onto the cars paint. What you are trying to do is just leave the paint in the chip. If you have made a mess, press harder and remove all the paint and start over.
6. Repeat this process a second time as you will need another round of paint in the chip to bring the paint level with the paint on your car.

Don’t worry about the Turpentine. It will NOT remove any factory paint on your car. The longer paint dries the harder it is to remove.

You will soon find that fixing a paint chip is not as hard as it sounds.

VETFVER

 

Rather than remove the blob, just make many very small applications of paint using a toothpick. Allow each application to dry before doing the next.

 

thanks for all the informative replies

 

As noted, Vetfvr uses turpentine with good results.
I have no reason to stray from Langka, since that 2 oz bottle will last 10 years ! It's a great product and well worth it. Once you try it you'll see that for each use, you use only a dime-sized spot on a t-shirt cloth. That's probably 0.05 ounce. I've had my bottle for 2 years, and used it probably 20 times, and the bottle still looks like it's full to me.

Believe me, you'd never want to have more than 2 ounces of this stuff around - it's just not necessary. Langka is great stuff.

 

Look for "Mothers' Chip Repair". Small white bottle in a red package, comes with a plastic card. I believe it's the same stuff as the Langka. Think I paid about $5 for the Mothers - works great.

 

i havent tried it.....but i read somewhere.... use the brush and dab a lil on the chip.....let it dry for 5 -10 min.....and slowly and carfully go over it with a razor blade to remove that bubble look....