the roof of my truck suddenly SHED its skin ... do i need to just sand all the clear off ,,,or take all the paint down also?..

i want to just paint the roof area solid white... [from the metallic red it has now].. since i will be going back to the desert sw in the next year or so..

Check to see if the color coat is also peeling.
I'd grab a DA & some 180 and sand as evenly as possible into the original primer.
For chipped/scratched panel, likely to bare metal.
If that presents a good surface, clean, prime & paint.
A single-stage paint will save you money & time if you can get a clean enough job.

I've talked to my local body shop about spot repairs in BC/CC. If the CC is sound, they scuff the entire panel, do the repair, BC the repair area and then CC the entire panel. But in your case, wow. The majority of the thickness is in the CC. If it's failing, trying to completely remove the CC without damaging the BC would take a better man than me. I'm with Topside, strip it all and go back with single stage.

It amazes me that after all these years and all the glorious reviews of how good BC/CC is over single stage, I still see vehicles with peeling CC.

Did you see the thread below?
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1989024/2.html

yes.. mine has no clear coat that i could spray over now... so it looks like sand it and redo it all...

What year is your truck?

My 98 Ram did the same thing. Once the clear starts to lift, it is best to prep the top and respray with either BC/CC or single stage. Luckily it is the top so color matching isn't as important. P.S. I did the front windshield pillars and the body line around the back to minimize the color difference.

How about posting some pics! Not one pic posted in this thread or the link.

its a 1996 f 250 steve..

My 2006 began to peel the clear coat on the roof and hood, and the only way to fix it was to repaint it

My 2001 Dodge Ram pickup red paint is hanging in there, but the camper top has been peeling clear coat for a couple of years. I've been watching it trying to decide what to do. Maybe the clear coat will come the rest of the way off and I can scuff up and shoot some clear back over it. But that base coat is looking pretty dirty. It will probably need sanding priming and either single stage urethane, single stage urethane and clear, or basecoat / clearcoat urethane. I haven't done much bodywork lately and I need to finish up my Duster and paint it. Maybe I'll try to find a cheap bodyshop to prep and single stage it.
The truck I mean.