My car needs repair work involving a new front bumper and bonnet soon. The bumper was looking a bit sorry and stone chipped after 60K miles of mainly motorway work anyway, so whilst I wish it didn't need the work done, I'm trying to focus on the positives that it'll have a nice new paint job.
Thread interests me because I'd been considering some sort of coating or invisible wrap to protect the bumper when the work is done, but they all see very expensive, and as kindai said, some of them are still quite visible, defeating the point of fitting them for aesthetics. Given the costs involved, I think it would be cheaper just to budget for a front end respray every 5 years or so if it bothers you that much.
When the work is done, I think I'll just be giving it a good polish, a few coats of Collonite, then trying to keep a minimum separation of 500 metres between myself and any lorries I'm following on the motorway (as well as high kerbs
)