The replacement panel I got had two sheets of protective plastic on the inside and one on the outside. I used a toothpick to carefully lift and peel the two inside sheets off. One small one was over the lens on the inside. The other was over some large brown sheet of unknown function (though I think it goes over the battery). When I peel that away, some of the brown material tried to lift of with it, so be very careful.

When I pulled the fan ear off the standoff the rubber grommet stayed on the standoff. That's fine, but it makes it difficult to put the fan ear back on during reassembly. So I just pulled the rubber grommet off the standoff and put it into the hole in the fan ear. Then I was able to push the fan ear onto the standoff with out trouble during reassembly.

Do not peel. I think that peeling will lead to breakage.

I was able to remove the sensor intact by twisting it back and forth rather than peeling it. The sensor is held on by something like rubber cement; you can just rotate the sensor, gently, keeping it flat against the drive, until it becomes free.

Note: I did try removing the bar code sticker, but it just tore at the sensor as I peeled the bar code sticker away, so no help there.