Well I decided to take off the old no name clear bra that has been on my car under a year, with a fresh new one straight from 3M. When I took the old one off the adhesive left behind was a nightmare even after heating it up seen in this pic:




I then proceeded to spray on my 3m Adhesive remover as per other users suggestions. I did not notice that 3m actually makes many variations of the product but mine was (3M Woodgrain and Stripe Adhesive Remover, 08908). Either way the product took off the adhesive but still required a lot of effort and rubbing as I suspected. It was not until after I took the car outside and washed the bumper with normal soap and water that i noticed the DISASTER of what my bumper had become:






The crazy thing was is the bumper would ONLY turn light gray when wet and as soon as it sat a few minutes it would return black and look as good as always. It was like when the water had a few minutes to sit on the paint it would change the color only on the bumper but the hood and fenders were fine. In addition where I masked off was also fine.
What did I do to my poor car? Did I eat the clearcoat? Is the paint doing this just because this product stripped every single ounce of wax and protectant off the paint?

ANY advice I would be greatly appreciative of...I have since installed my new clear bra on the bumper but I have no idea if I need to repaint in the future or what.

 

it looks like you have a form of paint haze-
most likely polish will solve this... start out with a paint cleaner or very mild polish (swirl remover)- evaluate and report back

 

Thats what I originally thought as well...However when Left for a few minutes to dry, the paint returns to its natural color!!

I did go over it with clay, cleaner and polish and it looks fine, but when wet turns light gray! Never have seen anything like this!

 

Are you sure there is no glue resedue left? If I were you I would make sure to work polish in really well. If no good try compound in a small spot followed by polish. See if that works.

 

3" spot check

 

am wondering about your polish method...
have you used polish before?
its not a wipe on wipe off type of product.
its a wipe on, work your *ss off type product.
(machine is by far the best way to do this)

often when polish isnt working i learn that it wasnt worked to dust-
posts above are also suggesting that...
and i agree that if a light polish isnt working, move up to a heavy polish (compound)- it will haze the car, which is why you then "step back" to a swirl remover after the compound.
and as also suggested above, try all this on a small area first-

 

Thanks for all the tips however this particular situation I DO NOT believe is polishing related. I don't believe I explained my process properly and my pictures do not do justice to what really went on. Just to give some background information I have 10+ years detailing experience and my makita is practically a brother to me I have restored some of the worst cars possible and manage to keep my soft paint berlina black machine swirl free with my obsessive compulsive wash techniques.

Again my pictures do not do justice however this is not a haze of the clearcoat because it returns COMPLETELY back to normal as soon as the pain dries after a few minutes. So to recap, my bumper looks fine...I wet it and it turns super light grey...When it dries again it looks normal again. In all my years I have never came across anything like this. I did polish it up but it did not seem to affect this process. Its almost like it was some chemical reaction between this adhesive remover and the paint on the bumper but not the paint on the hood.

 

I'm afraid I've got no idea.

It could just be me, but if I were you, I'd never use that adhesive remover on a car again. The stuff most folks are referring to is called "3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner." Part number is 08984. It's in a white metal can with red labeling on it. I bought mine at Car Quest. Here's what the "Directions for Use" section on the back of the can says:

3M Adhesive Cleaner may be applied directly to cool painted automotive surfaces to remove excess adhesive. On areas where adhesive is thoroughly dried and quite old, cleaner should be allowed to soak into the old adhesive by saturating a clean, soft cloth and lightly rubbing areas to be cleaned. Wipe off and repeat if necessary. Finally, wipe dry with a clean, soft cloth.

When cleaning adhesive from vinyl surfaces, soak the adhesive with a saturated rag and wipe gently. DON NOT RUB VINYL.

 

For adhesive removal and if you're a golfer I would use the non toxic golf grip solvent and it would remove the adhesive quickly without damaging the paint. Having said that, I would still spot test a small area first. If you're not a golfer you probably know one. Here u go.

http://www.golfsmith.com/products/916GK/Go...t_8_Ounces__160

After re-reading your post (and if you're absolutely sure you removed all of the adhesive) I am in agreement with the above poster (I have no idea what that is).

I believe our stock paint is polyurethane based (bumper would have flex agent in it) so it should have not reacted that way especially if was covered/protected.

 

Downgear,

I've seen a very similar behavior with my front bumper as well (also an older berlina). I have no idea what the issue is, but it's ONLY on the front bumper and not on the fenders. It only occurs when I use a bug / tar remover. Whatever the issue is, after the bumper is dried, and then left for a few hours, that haze goes away. I was concerned the first time it happened, but now I just let it roll .