re-do the clear coat on my hood

hey guys!

My name is Vince, and I'm new here on the forum.

Here's the story: I have a '99 dodge ram. It's been raining here for the last couple of days (I live in the south), and all of a sudden there was water under about 1/4 of the hood's clear coat. There was some damage to the clearcoat before that ovbiously, but in a very small area. Forward to the next day (yesterday). Driving down the highway, all the compromised clearcoat decided to take off. 

So now there's no clearcoat on about 1/4 of the hood of my truck. Again, the clearcoat seemed to be fine before that, except in some small area.

I'm looking to re-do the clear coat on the truck myself, but I have no experience painting hoods (or cars for that matter). I've been watching YouTube vidoes for the past couple of hours, and I feel very overwhelmed lol. 

I wonder if I somehow can re-do the clear coat without putting a base coat down, since the base coat has not been deteriorating for an extended period of time. 

I know I'll have to get the rest of the clear coat of my hood (I assume?), but I've yet to find out how to exactly do this. 

Any advice would be very appreciated!

Vince 

Yes you can just fix the clear coat if you act fast. Wet sand the hood with fine-grit sandpaper to remove any peeling clear coat and smooth the edges, then prep and respray clear. It'll be a lot easier if you can remove the hood from the truck.

Adding to what Gameboy said, I'd wetsand off all remaining clear as if a good portion of the existing clear has started to peel, it's not a matter of if, but when with regards to the remaining clear. 

Start at 400 grit wet to feather the edges. Cheapest clear you can find would be my reccomendations.  From what ive seen, this will buy you a couple of years time before total repaint. 

Rather than paint it you could wallpaper it.  Actually, not real wall paper but vinyl car wrap.  Maybe a contrasting color, black or carbon fiber.  There are lots to choose from.  I have used Vvivid Brand and just bought it off Amazon.  

There are tons of youtube video to learn with.  

Remove any clear coat that's flaking off with something like a rubber razor blade. Then wetsand the hood. The goal is to remove any obvious ridges between the old clear coat and the base paint layer, as well as to scuff up the entire surface to give the new clear something to adhere to. Then remove the hood and stand it up vertically and paint with a catalyzed 2k clear coat. Wear breathing apparatus for the painting.