I just bought an immaculate red 1995 camaro z28 - 25,000 miles, owned by an old car collector who hardly even drove it. You could eat off the engine its so clean.

There was a crappy dealer sticker left on it and two AAA oval stickers. I used goo gone, my finger nail, and a t shirt to assist with the task. The dealer sticker flaked off in small pieces without a problem. But the AAA stickers were the shiney "chrome" looking plastic kinds that tend to want to come off in one piece. The one on the back appears to have come off without a problem. But CRAP - the front one came off and took the DAGOME clear coat with it. What do I do?! I don't want to see the clear coat to continue to flake off around it. And I'm PISSED that I've had the car only a week and have already screwed it up. Would it be possible to have a body shop restore the clear coat in only that small area? - the primary concern being to seal it off and prevent spreading.

 

I would think if it's in a area that is like a panel. Bumper, rear valance. You could light sand the entire area to scuff the clear up, then respray the clear. I'm sure a body shop could tackle that easily. As long as the paint isn't destroyed I can't see why a new coat of clear over the area. Then buffing couldn't save it.

I feel your pain. I left a set of magnetic numbers on my bimmer to long and screwed the paint up.
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The area is about 2x3 inches. What do you think it would cost to get it fixed?

 

Where at on the car? Bumper? Rear panel?
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Its under the frontturn signal towards the bottom, where the bumper starts to flare back out. Plastic of course.

 

Ok, I have a idea where it was then. I'd guestimate a proper body shop would have about a hour or so of labor. Materials, and clear. Figure 200. That's if they masked then sanded the entire panel affected.

Possibly, if the rest of the clear is in good shape and it's in a low, small area. Maybe just sand the affected area and re-clear a section, then buff the section to blend it with the old clear. Hell, if you do get a quote from a body guy and they are going to do the whole panel you could try it yourself first. If your comfortable messing with it.

I'd swing by a body shop and ask them for a opinion. Got some pics of the spot?
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As you can see, the paint is beautiful on this car. It's as if it is brand new. It was odd though - the back AAA sticker came off fine. When I peeled off the front one, I wasn't pulling really hard or anything. It came off pretty easy. It seems as though the sticker had been there a long time and had deeply bonded itself to the clear coat. How did this happen!!! ARGGHH. $200 - AARRRGH

 

As small and low as that is I'd see if they could do a spot repair with just area sanding and then clear coat the area. Then buff the snot out of it and see if it blends.

200 was my guestimate. Hard to tell what the body guy would say until you ask.

It kind of looks like the sticker material is still on it, and the clear didn't come off. Tried buffing it yourself yet?
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It will most likely turn out to be more than $200. It will need the whole bumper painted. Or a repair the area with a blend but personaly I recomend against that due to blended areas look bad after a while. And you can not just add clear because it will look bad, I have had to repair areas like this due to masking tape pulling the clear. (I worked in body shops for many years). Your going to have to go to a shop and see what they want. The proper answer cant be found here. One reason being shop labor rates vary by area.

 

It does look like it's just the sticker residue, doesn't it? That's what I thought at first. As I began rubbing it with the goo gone and t-shirt, pink started to rub off on the t-shirt. That's when i said wait a minute, something is WRONG here. I'd be mad if it took $200 to fix this. I don't see why you couldn't just spray clear over it and wet sand it. Even if this would mean slightly still seeing A outlines, I'd feel better knowing the area was protected from continuing to flake off. I could do this myself possibly. But DANG IT - such a beautiful pristine car with already a scar. I'm trying to figure out if I did something wrong or if this is just a weird freak occurence. I wasn't using a hair dryer. I wish I had been- probably would have soften the glue and might not have taken the clear coat. It came off so easily though...