Been working on this '96 F250 and doing everything myself now it's getting close to time for paint and trying to decide if I should tackle it myself to. The truck has a flatbed so that'll be easy enough. The body paint is good but the hood, cowl, and roof are faded bad from the sun. Other than a bit of rust above the windshield it looks like the clear coat just faded off. Has anyone had any luck sanding or buffing the old clear off and applying new? Not looking for show room results just something decent looking. I got a bid for a grand to paint the faded areas but would rather try my hand at it. I'll attach a few pics.

 

My '95 is a bit more 'sunburned' than yours - The clearcoat on mine has issues part-way down the sides as well. I'll be taking a D/A sander to the affected areas and respraying both color and clear to the entire topside surfaces and down to the top of the two-tone striping.

 

She needs a paint job. You wont fix that with clear coat.

How to: Driveway Base Coat, Clear Coat Paint Job - Prep to Buff

 

That's a heck of a write up you did. Paint looks good too. I'm in the process of replacing the deck on the flatbed now and will need to have the bed repainted afterwards. I think I'll go over the good paint with a two step buffing process and see how it looks afterwards and go from there. I really don't think the grand I was quoted to paint the hood and roof is bad, I just enjoy working on the truck. Might be best to have the whole truck painted and let them do the bed too.