Will stickers damage Plastic cars?

[SleeperN06]

I used some self-stick Christmas labels around my layout and was wondering if I could also use them on some of my non-Christmas cars. I don’t want to cause any damage that would affect the value.

I’m not exactly sure about how hard it will be to remove the stickers that I have, but when my kids were putting stickers on everything years ago, it was not so easy to remove them. I know Goo Gone will clean them up, but I don’t know if it will also remove or damage the paint.

[sir james I]

Vegetable oil or WD40 will remove stickers without damage to all train paints that I ever used it on.

[cwburfle]

I have seen permanent damage from stickers and/or tape being left on trains for too long.
A good example are some early MPC 9200 series boxcars. Someone had the bright idea of using scotch tape to hold the doors closed on some of these cars. It's my impression that this was done at the factory because I have seen (and picked up) boxcars that were new, old stock with this tape at numerous places.
The tape can be removed, but it leaves a mark (usually a shiney spot) that seems to be impossible to remove.
Even "removeable" labels  can become permanently affixed over time. (On the other hand, sometimes they just fall off.

Stickers and labels are made with both removeable and non-removeable adhesive. Unless the package is labeled "removeable", I would assume they are permanent.

Would removeable stickers left on for only a short period of time hurt anything?  .... probably not.

[SleeperN06]

Thanks, I was searching for removable stickers and I saw some Christmas vinyl stickers that might be easier to remove than the paper ones. I remember the kids having some 3D vinyl or maybe foam stickers not sure, but they would fall off on their own. The paper ones can really be a pain and I do have stuff damaged by leaving masking tape on too long.

I guess if I do it I’ll have to be sure to remove them right away after Christmas. I would like to add more cars without buying more actual Christmas cars, but I’m still undecided. Maybe I can make something to drape over the box cars without gluing it on.