reminds me of this youtube a porsche buddy of mine sent me. get past the first 30 seconds... cant imagine racing on roads like this!

 

There is an alternative to ceramic coatings and clear films, and that is accumulate the rock chips, touch them up for a period of time, and then respray the affected areas every couple of years to look like new. My front bumper has accumulated enough chips that next week I will have it resprayed for two or three hundred dollars. I have touched up large chips that have bothered me for the past two years, and now I want it to look new, so I'll have it done. That is 5-10% of the cost of covering with film or ceramic coating. I keep my car exceptionally clean, regularly wax, but I drive a lot of miles and rock chips happen. When the protection costs 10 to 20 times as much as respraying a bumper or a rocker, it ceases to be cost effective as a protectorant. Go out and enjoy your cars and deal with the little imperfections every couple of years.

 

The fact that you mentioned the paint protection being cost effective, I absolutely agree, and that's why I'm looking for an inexpensive solution to protect the paint from getting chipped.

 

I love the high-quality ceramic coatings like CQuartz Finest, but they will not provide any real protection from rock chips. They make the paint really sparkle and are great on darker cars in terms of preventing swirl marks and making it easier to keep clean with little or no effort.

The plastic films like XPEL or SunTek are the only things that will stop most of that type of damage to the paint. The biggest problem with film is that sometimes it gets sacrificed to protect your paint.

TBerg's alternative is the only other one. Cost is probably about the same (e.g. not cheap). The problem with that alternative is getting a repaint is always a bit risky in terms of matching, and other possible things that could go wrong. Even if you get a great job, you're then faced with the process starting all over again with rock chips as soon as you're back on the road.

If you want both protection and zero damage from driving your car, it's never going to be inexpensive. It's simply a matter of personal preference, as well as your tolerance for ignoring minor imperfections.