Woodgrain Clear Coat

[AustrianOak82]

I did an older Lexus the other day that was very neglected on the inside and was heavily smoked in. I sprayed APC on the door panel and began to do my initial wipe. Once I get it cleaned enough to hit it with my steamer, I noticed that on the driver's door handle, there were spots where the clear coat was coming off. I don't know if it was so dirty/oily/tar covered that it simply covered up the degradation or if I somehow removed it with my APC. It was then pretty stick to the touch. I continued to clean with steam and cleaned it with glass cleaner and it looked a lot better but if you really looked at it, you could see where the clear was coming off.

1. Is this normal on neglected cars?
2. Did the APC somehow remove the clear coat?
3. How is this situation remedied should it happen in the future? Obviously I will proceed with more caution going forward but this is the 1st time I have run into this.

Thanks!